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Updated: September 25, 2025
Children and fools, 't is said, do speak the truth, beausire; and in all this do I see the malice and device of this false Atheling, the friend of your rebellious brother, Duke Robert, as you do know him to be; and I do brand him here, in this presence, as traitor and recreant to you, his lord." Witch-wife or seeress. The anger of the jealous king grew more unreasoning as Sir Ordgar went on.
"I have told thee, Ordgar, son of Haga." "Thou art a vassal of Aescendune?" "I was." "And art: my rights over thee cease not." "I do not acknowledge thee as my lord." "Thou mayst think better of it anon. Now thou wilt please answer my questions. "Scribe, take down his replies." "He will not fill much parchment." "We shall see. "Where hast thou been hiding from thy lawful master?"
"But how?" "Ordgar the guide, whom we thought we had secured so opportunely, led us into the marshes and left us therein; and while we were there, the English fired the reeds and bulrushes on all sides." "And the baron?" "He and all have perished; I only have escaped to tell thee. Where are the rest who were left behind?" "Here they are," cried Tristam, as a group of old warriors approached.
The Lord hath delivered them into our hands," said Haga. Foremost amongst them the old man recognised his son Ordgar; his arms were bound, and a cord attached to the thongs which confined them, held by a man-at-arms. We will transport ourselves to the other side of the Swamp.
His flushed face grew still more red, and, turning away from the Saxon prince, he demanded: "Why make you this charge, Sir Ordgar? "Because of its truth, beausire," said the faithless knight. "For what other cause hath this false Atheling sought sanctuary here, save to use his own descent from the ancient kings of this realm to make head and force among your lieges?
Among the attendant knights and nobles of King William's court was a Saxon knight known as Sir Ordgar, a "thegn," or baronet, of Oxfordshire; and because those who change their opinions political or otherwise often prove the most unrelenting enemies of their former associates, it came to pass that Sir Ordgar, the Saxon, conceived a strong dislike for these orphaned descendants of the Saxon kings, and convinced himself that the best way to secure himself in the good graces of the Norman King William was to slander and accuse the children of the Saxon Queen Margaret.
And then they came to the torture chamber, of which they had already heard from Ordgar, son of Haga, and saw the seat of judgment, so often occupied by him who had now passed to his dread account; they beheld the rack, the brazier, the thumbscrew, and shuddered.
"Ordgar of Oxford," he said, "take up the glove!" and Edith knew who was her accuser. Then the King asked: "Who standeth as champion for Edgar the Atheling and this maid, his niece?" Almost before the words were spoken young Robert Fitz Godwine had sprung to Edith's side. "That would I, lord king, if a young squire might appear against a belted knight!"
There was a dead silence. At length a man arose Ordgar, son of Haga. "I will take my life in my hand to deliver my people from the tyranny of this Norman wolf." "God bless thee, my son," said his aged sire; "thou art the light of mine eyes, but I can risk thee in thy country's cause and the cause of the House of Aescendune."
"Trust me for that; I will not promise to serve them till I have at least seen their torture chamber." "Ordgar, thou dost indeed show a spirit worthy of an Englishman; and while such live, I shall never despair of my country," said the youthful chieftain.
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