ll be a glorious one: for it will be the
triumph of virtue!"

CHAPTER III.

The day which Ermengarde had predicted was close at hand. An
infectious fever broke out in the college, which, in several instances,
proved fatal to those who were attacked by it, and spread such terror
throughout the college that when Prince Edwin fell sick he was forsaken
by almost every living creature. His faithful page, Wilfrid, however,
watched him day and night, and supplied him with drink and nourishment,
which were brought to him by the widow Ermengarde.

For six days the young Atheling was insensible of everything but his
own sufferings, and gave no indications of consciousness. On the night
of the seventh, as Wilfrid was supporting upon his bosom the head of
his afflicted master, and holding a cup of cooling drink to his parched
lips, he murmured, "Is it you, my faithful Brithric?"

"No," replied the page, "Brithric is not present, neither hath he
entered this chamber, my lord, since the term of your sore sickness
commenced."

"Surely, then, he must himself be sick, perhaps dead," said the prince.

"No," replied Wilfrid, with a smile; "he is only fearful of exposing
himself to the contagion of the fever."

"Who, then, hath nursed and attended upon me so kindly during these
many days of suffering while I have lain here unconscious of everything
around me?"

"Your servant Wilfrid," replied the page.

"And where then are my chamberlains and attendants, by whom I ought to
be surrounded?" asked the prince, raising his languid head from the
bosom of Wilfrid, and looking round the spacious but deserted room of
state, in which he lay.

"They are all overcome by the terrors of the contagion," said Wilfrid.

"And why did you not flee from it also, Wilfrid?" asked the prince.

"Because, my lord," said Wilfrid, "I knew that you must perish if I
abandoned you."

"Ah! Wilfrid," said the prince, bursting into tears, "I deserve not
this goodness from you, for of late I have treated you very unkindly; I
know and feel that I have: can you forgive me?"

"Think no more of it, my lord, I pray you," replied Wilfrid, pressing
the burning hand of the prince to his lips. "I freely forgive all that
has passed, and only wish you to remember it, whenever you feel
disposed to yield to the impulses of a defective temper, which, for
your own sake, rather than mine, I earnestly hope you will correct."

Prince Edwin bowed his face on the bos