United States or Kuwait ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
He placed his wife, Torfrida, in a convent, and, collecting his friends around him, kept up a constant warfare with the Normans, until at length he succeeded in fortifying the Isle of Ely, and establishing there what he called the Camp of Refuge, as it gave shelter to any Saxon who had suffered from the violence of the Normans, or would not adopt the new habits they tried to enforce.
"It was not so said to me that I could answer. "And she had it from her sister, Matilda." "And she, of course, from Duke William himself." "And what would you have answered, if you had answered, pretty one?" "Nay, I know not. I cannot be always queen. You must be king sometimes." Torfrida did not say that this latter offer had been a much sorer temptation than the former.
Hereward!" and she threw her arms round his neck for the tenth time. "Blessed be you for those words! Those are the fears which never come true, for they bring down from heaven the grace of God, to guard the humble and contrite heart from that which it fears." "Ah, Torfrida, I wish I were as good as you!"
Only whatever grief we may endure in the next life for our sins, may we endure it as we have the griefs of this life, hand in hand." "Amen, Torfrida. There is one thing more to do before we die. The tomb in Crowland. Ever since the fire blackened it, it has seemed to me too poor and mean to cover the dust which once held two such noble souls.
H. de B. Vincent, who is, herself, still in the heyday of life, and one of the loveliest of the society women I have met. Though I have known her sisters several years, I only met Torfrida for the first time a few months ago, when she was superintending the nursing of her mother, who had just undergone an operation for appendicitis.
But Torfrida rose upon her knees, and calmly made a solemn vow, which, though canonically void without her husband's consent, would, she well knew, never be disputed by any there; and as for him, "He has lost me; and forever. Torfrida never gives herself away twice." "There's carnal pride in those words, my poor child," said Godiva. "Cruel!" said she, proudly.
By us sin came into the world, and Eve's curse lies heavy on us to this day, and our desire is to our lords, and they rule over us; and when the slave can work for her master no more, what better than to crawl into the house of God, and lay down our crosses at the foot of His cross and die? You too will come here, Torfrida, some day, I know it well. You too will come here to rest."
She had the King's writ for his safety ready to send to him. The King would receive him as his liegeman. Alftruda would receive him as her husband. Archbishop Lanfranc had made difficulties about the dissolution of the marriage with Torfrida: but gold would do all things at Rome; and Lanfranc was her very good friend, and a reasonable man, and so forth.
"On! men!" shouted he, "we shall kill a few Frenchmen apiece before we die!" "Hereward," cried Torfrida, "you shall not go on! If you go, I shall be taken. And if I am taken, I shall be burned. And I cannot burn, I cannot! I shall go mad with terror before I come to the stake. I cannot go stript to my smock before those Frenchmen. I cannot be roasted piecemeal! Hereward, take me away!
But Torfrida had not found rest unto her soul. For the first time in her life since she became the bride of Hereward, she had had a confidence concerning him and unknown to him. It was to his own mother, true. And yet she felt as if she had betrayed him: but then had he not betrayed her? And to Winter of all men?
Word Of The Day