yes, "bless me not yet! Hear my tale first,
and then say what comfort, what refuge, thy Church can bestow!"

Hurriedly then the Earl poured forth the dark story, already known to the
reader,--the prison at Belrem, the detention at William's court, the
fears, the snares, the discourse by the riverside, the oath over the
relics. This told, he continued, "I found myself in the open air, and
knew not, till the light of the sun smote me, what might have passed into
my soul. I was, before, as a corpse which a witch raises from the dead,
endows with a spirit not its own--passive to her hand--life-like, not
living. Then, then it was as if a demon had passed from my body,
laughing scorn at the foul things it had made the clay do. O, father,
father! is there not absolution from this oath,--an oath I dare not keep?
rather perjure myself than betray my land!"

The prelate's face was as pale as Harold's, and it was some moments
before he could reply.

"The Church can loose and unloose--such is its delegated authority. But
speak on; what saidst thou at the last to William?"

"I know not, remember not--aught save these words. 'Now, then, give me
those for whom I placed myself in thy power; let me restore Haco to his
fatherland, and Wolnoth to his mother's kiss, and wend home my way.'
And, saints in heaven! what was the answer of this caitiff Norman, with
his glittering eye and venomed smile? 'Haco thou shalt have, for he is
an orphan and an uncle's love is not so hot as to burn from a distance;
but Wolnoth, thy mother's son, must stay with me as a hostage for thine
own faith. Godwin's hostages are released; Harold's hostage I retain: it
is but a form, yet these forms are the bonds of princes.'

"I looked at him, and his eye quailed. And I said, 'That is not in the
compact.' And William answered, 'No, but it is the seal to it.' Then I
turned from the Duke and I called my brother to my side, and I said,
'Over the seas have I come for thee. Mount thy steed and ride by my
side, for I will not leave the land without thee.' And Wolnoth answered,
'Nay, Duke William tells me that he hath made treaties with thee, for
which I am still to be the hostage; and Normandy has grown my home, and I
love William as my lord.' Hot words followed, and Wolnoth, chafed,
refused entreaty and command, and suffered me to see that his heart was
not with England! O, mother, mother, how shall I meet thine eye! So I
returned with Haco. The momen