in of folk, guarded by men of Offa's
own housecarls in front and rear, as if those who travelled were no
common wayfarers. In the midst of all was a closed horse litter,
beside which rode two or three veiled and hooded ladies and a
priest. Save the captain of the guards, there was no thane with the
party, and but a few pack horses followed them, and I thought it
would be some abbess, perhaps, who was leaving the palace.

We drew up on the roadside to let this train pass, though I suppose
that by all right the archbishop might have claimed the crown of
the way for himself, had he been other than the humble-minded man
that he was. As the leading guards passed us they saluted in all
due form; and then one of the ladies knew who was here, and bent to
the litter, and so turned and spoke to the captain, who straightway
called a halt, and came, helm in hand, to the archbishop, praying
him to speak with the lady who was in his charge.

Who this was I did not hear, but I saw the face of the good man
change, and he hurried to dismount and go to the litter. And
thence, after a word or two had passed, came the priest I had seen;
and when he uncowled I knew him for my friend Selred, and glad I
was to see him.

"Why, how goes it, father?" I said, as my hand met his. "You were
not in the wood of our tryst, and I feared that you were in
trouble."

Very gravely he shook his head, looking sadly at me.

"There is naught but trouble in all this place," he said. "I could
not come to you, for the gates were closed early, that Gymbert
might be taken. He was not taken. And yet I have heavier trouble to
tell you than you can think."

"No, father," I said quickly, seeing that he had learned too
little, and doubtless believed Hilda either drowned or else in the
hands of Gymbert and his men--whichever tale Quendritha had been
told or chose to tell him.

"I was in the wood, and thither came the lady we ken of when she
was set forth from the place. I was in time to get her away, and
she is safe."

It was wonderful to see the face of the chaplain lighten at this.

"Laus Deo," he said under his breath, and his hand sought mine
again and gripped it. "That is a terrible load off my heart," he
said. "Yet I have heard that our good Sighard is slain. They have
burned the hall of honest Witred over his head, and he is gone, and
it was said that Sighard fell there with him."

"It is not half an hour ago that I heard how he fled to the west,
wh