d forth his sceptre, and motioning to
his chamberlain, bade him introduce the nuncius. [79]

A blank disappointment, not unmixed with apprehensive terror, succeeded
the turbulent excitement of the Normans; for well they knew that the
consequences, if not condition, of negotiations, would be their own
downfall and banishment at the least;--happy, it might be, to escape
massacre at the hands of the exasperated multitude.

The door at the end of the room opened, and the nuncius appeared. He was
a sturdy, broad-shouldered man, of middle age, and in the long loose garb
originally national with the Saxon, though then little in vogue; his
beard thick and fair, his eyes grey and calm--a chief of Kent, where all
the prejudices of his race were strongest, and whose yeomanry claimed in
war the hereditary right to be placed in the front of battle.

He made his manly but deferential salutation to the august council as he
approached; and, pausing midway between the throne and door, he fell on
his knees without thought of shame, for the King to whom he knelt was the
descendant of Woden, and the heir of Hengist. At a sign and a brief word
from the King, still on his knees, Vebba, the Kentman, spoke.

"To Edward, son of Ethelred, his most gracious king and lord, Godwin, son
of Wolnoth, sends faithful and humble greeting, by Vebba, the thegn-born.
He prays the King to hear him in kindness, and judge of him with mercy.
Not against the King comes he hither with ships and arms; but against
those only who would stand between the King's heart and the subject's:
those who have divided a house against itself, and parted son and father,
man and wife."

At those last words Edward's sceptre trembled in this hand, and his face
grew almost stern.

"Of the King, Godwin but prays with all submiss and earnest prayer, to
reverse the unrighteous outlawry against him and his; to restore him and
his sons their just possessions and well-won honours; and, more than all,
to replace them where they have sought by loving service not unworthily
to stand, in the grace of their born lord and in the van of those who
would uphold the laws and liberties of England. This done--the ships
sail back to their haven; the thegn seeks his homestead and the ceorl
returns to the plough; for with Godwin are no strangers; and his force is
but the love of his countrymen."

"Hast thou said?" quoth the King.

"I have said."

"Retire, and await our answer."

The Thegn