heart was full of solemn yet not sad
thoughts; peace, sweet peace, was the subject of her meditations, and
she thought with gratitude of Him who had hitherto preserved Mercia
from the foe, who had indeed for nearly two years ceased to molest
England.

But as she gazed, her attention was attracted to a light on the
opposite hills. It was a fire of some kind, and rose up more and more
fiercely each moment. It was but a bonfire in appearance, yet it
marred both the landscape and the meditative rest of the gazer.

The party from the hall were returning home from the church.

"Father," said Bertric, "look at that light! Is it not singular? I
never saw one there before."

But even while they looked another fire appeared in an opposite
direction, and Bertric saw his father turn grave.

"It is the beacon fire," said he seriously.

"Yes it is, and see it is answered from the hills to the north," said
Alfgar.

Then they were silent, and Bertric felt his spirits sink with a vague
kind of apprehension. They said no more till they reached home, and
the whole family met, much later than usual, at the evening meal.

"You are late," said Hilda to her lord.

"We were returning home from the meadows on the water, whence the last
load of hay has been carried, and we tarried for the compline at the
priory. The bell sounded as we were passing."

"Did you see the bonfire on the hills? It must be a large one."

"I did; and it made me uneasy."

"Why so, my Elfwyn?"

"You forget that when the last invasion of our pagan foes was over, it
was agreed in the Witan that a set of beacons should be prepared, in
readiness to fire, on the tops of the hills, and that if the Danes
appeared again, they should be fired everywhere, in which case Mercia
was to hold herself in readiness to come to the aid of Wessex or East
Anglia, whichever the foe might be harrying."

"But then that was eighteen months agone."

"Still the beacon piles remain or did remain. I saw one at the summit
of the hills which the trackway crosses between our county and
Oxfordshire, when I last returned form Beranbyrig {v}, and I think
that one gives the present alarm. It means the Danes are again in the
land."

"Now, God forbid!" said Hilda, with clasped hands.

"Amen say we all; but I fear me such will be the case, unless some
poor fool has set the pile blazing for amusement. I fancied I saw it
answered away north and west. We will go and see anon."

Supper bein