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Mine, too, was the baldric from which it hung, and mine was the seax that balanced it, close to the right hand in the belt. As I saw that I began to know more of the plans of Matelgar for it must be that my hall and all my goods had fallen into his hands, and this was the reward his head man had asked and been given.
And so plainly did I see that he knew all, that I asked him to do so, and he came beside me and said; "Heregar needs but one thing, my father, and that is the hand of the maiden he loves Alswythe the daughter of Matelgar, and your ward since her father was slain." "Are you so foolish as to ask no more than that?" said the king, smiling.
Soon after this the horns were blown to recall all the men, and I knew that Matelgar must needs, even were it a ghost who brought the war arrow, lead his following to the sheriff's levy. Aye, and the following that should be mine as well.
"I saw Osric and twenty of his men close round him and beat back the Danes for a moment: but I could not win to them, and so came back to you as you rallied us. That was well done," he said again. "I left when Osric came up. Matelgar I saw not," I said. "Osric saw you, though," answered Wulfhere, "and, moreover, knew you.
Very early the Somerset men went with Eanulf, and we of the bishop's levy only remained on Brent after the morning meal. Then as we three stood on the edge of the hill, and looked out where Matelgar had looked, I told my two friends of his coming and of his words.
My father and this Matelgar were never close friends, the open nature of the one fitting ill with the close and grasping ways of the other.
And since that night there had been the wise counsel of the hermit, the prattle of the child, the touch and voice of my loved one, the thought of a true friend, and now the sore need of the country I loved. And, for the sake of all those things, I do not wonder that, as I saw Matelgar pale and tremble before me, the thought of slaying him never entered my head.
But nothing harmed or offered to harm me. Only when some root or twisted tussock of grass would catch my foot and hinder me I cursed it for being in league with Matelgar, tearing my way fiercely over or through it. And at last, I think, my mind wandered. Then I saw a red light that glowed close under the edge of some thick woodland, where the land rose, and that drew me.
Matelgar bade me follow Gurth yonder, and smite whom he smote." "It would have mattered not you would have slain me as well as any other." "Nay, master," the man said earnestly, "that would I not." "You lie," I answered curtly enough; "like master like man. Tell me what I bade you." "Truly I lie not, Heregar," cried he, "for I love my mistress over well to harm you."
"I know that," he answered testily; "pull that mail off your face, man; they are not here yet, and your voice is muffled behind it." I suppose that the coming and going of messengers was constant, and indeed there came another even then, so the other thanes paid little attention after they heard my stale news, except Matelgar; who went on watching me closely.
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