mber.

Elfric had expected to find the newly-crowned king deeply impressed, but
if such had been the case, at the moment it had passed away.

"Thanks to all the saints, including St. George, and especially the
dragon, that I can look into your jolly face again, Elfric, it is a
relief after all the grim-beards who have surrounded me today. I shudder
when I think of them."

Elfric had been about to kneel and kiss the royal hand, in token of
homage, but Edwy saw the intention and prohibited him.

"No more of that an thou lovest me, Elfric; my poor hand is almost worn
out already."

"The day must have tired you, the scene was so exciting."

Edwy yawned as he replied, "Thank God it is over; I thought Odo was
going to preach to me all day, and the incense almost stifled me; the
one good thing is that it is done now, and all England--Kent, Sussex,
Wessex, Essex, Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia--have all
acknowledged me as their liege lord, the Basileus of Britain. What is
done can't be undone, and Dunstan may eat his leek now, and go to fight
Satan again."

Elfric looked up in some surprise.

"What do you think, my friend; who do you suppose is here in the palace,
in the royal apartments?"

"Who?"

"Elgiva, the fair Elgiva, the lovely Elgiva, dear Elgiva, and her
mother. Oh, but I shall love to look upon her face when the feast is
done, and the grim-beards have gone!"

"But Dunstan?"

"Dunstan may go and hang himself; he can't scrape off the consecrated
oil, or carry away crown, bracelet, and sceptre, to hide with the other
royal treasures at Glastonbury; but the feast is beginning, and you must
come and sit on my right hand."

"No, no," said Elfric, who saw at once what an impropriety this would
be, "not yet; besides, my old father is here, and has kept a seat beside
himself for me."

"Well, goodbye for the present; I shall expect you after the feast.
Elgiva will be glad to see you."

Elfric returned to his father, but a feeling of sadness had taken
possession of him, an apprehension of coming evil.

The feast began; the clergy and the nobility of the land were assembled
in the great hail of the palace, and there was that profusion of good
cheer which befitted the day, for the English were, like their German
ancestors, in the habit of considering the feast an essential part of
any solemnity.

How much was eaten and drunk upon the occasion it would be dangerous to
say, for it would probably exceed