ed the king to pray that it might clear from
off us, and so he knelt and did so. It was strange to hear his
clear voice rising from the midst of half-seen men and steaming
horses, praying for the light. And then the fog lifted as suddenly
as it had come, and the sun shone out.

"See," he said, "our fears are like this mist, and cloud our
senses. Surely the fears shall pass likewise from the heart of him
who prays. So read I the token, if token it be."

All that day thereafter we rode in brightest sunshine, and men were
fairly ashamed to say more of ill-luck and the like. And so also in
lovely weather we went for the fourteen days of our journey, until
we came to the place where we should cross the Severn at Worcester,
and but a day's long ride was before us.

After that time of the mist Ethelbert noticed Erling, and would
call him and speak long with him of the ways of his home, as I
thought.

At Worcester we waited while a message went from the town to Offa,
and next day there came to meet us some score of the best thanes of
the Welsh borderland, who should be our guides to the end of the
journey. Hard warriors and scarred with tokens of the long wars
they were, but pleasant and straightforward in their ways, as
warriors should be. Only I did not altogether like the smooth way
of the man who was their leader. His name was Gymbert, and he was
of mixed Welsh and English blood, as I was told, and he was also
high in honour with Offa, and with Quendritha herself; which in
itself spoke well for him, but nevertheless in some way I cared not
for him.

They feasted us that night in Worcester, and early next morning we
rode out westward again on the last stage of our journey, the king
leading us with this thane at his side, followed by the rest of the
Mercians and his own thanes. So I, not altogether unwillingly, rode
with Hilda in the rear of the party, feeling somewhat downcast to
think that this was the last time I was at all likely to be her
companion.

I suppose that there is not a more wonderful outlook in all England
than from the Malvern heights, save only that from our own
Quantocks, in the west. I hold that the more wonderful, for there
one has the sea, and across it the mountains of Wales, which one
misses here, while it were hard to say whence the eye can range the
furthest.

I told Hilda so as we reined up the horses for a moment at the top
of the steep to breathe them, and she sighed, with all the wonde