Latin, and all that sort of thing, so that he will long to
get you to town, if it is only to set an example to me."

"But if he does not find that I answer his expectations?"

"Oh, it will be too late to alter then; you will be comfortably
installed in the palace; and, between you and me, he is but old and
feeble, and has always had a disease of some kind. I expect he will soon
die, and then who will be king save Edwy, and who in England shall be
higher than his friend Elfric?"

It was a brilliant prospect, as it seemed to boys of fifteen, for such
was the mature age of the speakers.

Shortly after the last conversation, an express came from the court to
seek the young prince--the messenger had been long delayed from
ignorance of the present abode of Edwy, who had carefully concealed the
secret until he felt he could tarry no longer, fearing the wrath not
only of the king, but of Dunstan, whom he dreaded yet more than his uncle.

So he and his attendants, who had, like him, found pleasant
entertainment at Aescendune, bade farewell to the home where he had been
so hospitably entertained: and so ended a visit, pregnant with the most
important results, then utterly unforeseen and unintended, to the family
he had honoured by his presence.

Some few weeks passed, and under the tuition of their chaplain, who was
charged with their education, Elfric and Alfred had returned to their
usual course of life.

It would seem somewhat a hard one to a lover of modern ease. They rose
early, as we have already seen, and before breaking their fast went with
their father and most of the household to the early mass at the
monastery of St. Wilfred, returned to an early meal, and then worked
hard, on ordinary occasions at their Latin, and such other studies as
were pursued in that primitive age of England. The midday meal was
succeeded by somewhat severe bodily exercise, generally hunting the boar
or wolf which still abounded in the forests, an excitement not
unattended by danger, which, however, their father would never permit
them to shun. He knew full well the importance of personal courage at an
age when the dangers of hunting were only initiatory to the stern duties
of war, and no Englishman could shun the latter when his country called
upon him to take up arms. Nor were martial exercises unknown to the
boys; the bow, it is true, was somewhat neglected then in England, but
the use of sword, shield, and battle-axe was daily inculc