arde, and Ulric was my lover, are as clear to me as
moonlight. I could tell you many things of those days if you cared to
listen--how Ulric slew his brother because he lifted his eyes to me, and
how once we were both taken prisoners by the King of East Mercia, and
Ulric burst his bonds, the strongest they could forge, and slew the
guards one by one.

"It was just such a dawn as this when we came running to the seashore,
and when we smelled the salt wind how we laughed in one another's faces
for the joy of our freedom. Behind the Britons were staggering with
fatigue--for Ulric ran like a god, and when I was weary he caught me up
by the waist, and I lay upon his shoulder, and never troubled him. Or I
could tell you how he slew his chief captain because one night he
whispered in my ear."

He clasped her fingers in his. They were hot and feverish.

"Shall we turn now, dear?" he said. "We have walked far enough in this
sun. You shall tell me more of Ulric another day."

They had left the shore, but she turned to the right along a low range
of sand-hills.

"Does this lead to any place in particular?" he asked.

"It leads to Rayston Church," she answered. "We are going there."

He looked at her in quick surprise.

"How did you know that?" he asked. "I have heard of a place called
Rayston, but there is no church there."

She laughed softly.

"I will show you where it stood, then," she answered. "I will show you,
too, what sort of man Ulric was. It was the last of our raids. We had
twelve ships, and nearly five hundred men, and everywhere the people
fled without fighting, for no one could stand against Ulric and his men.
For once I, too, was allowed to land, for we knew that our coming was
unexpected, and there was no fear of defeat. Village by village they
plundered, and sacked, and burned. Night by night we made great fires,
by which the ships followed us along the coast, and I sang to them till
the embers burned low."

She stopped short with a little cry, and pointed inland. To their left
was a plowed field, and in the top corner were three grass and
ivy-covered stone walls of immense thickness.

"See," she cried, "there stood Rayston Church! When we came here an old
man met us waving a green bough. He told Ulric that all the folk had
fled, and that their dwellings might be spared they had collected all
their treasures and belongings and stored them in the church. Ulric
believed him, and they hastened to the ch