it
was left to him, was unchanged, and he stammered forth his desire to be
a man, and to see the world, in words mingled with expressions of his
deep love for his parents, which he was sure nothing could ever change.

Strange to say, now that the parental consent was gained, and no
obstacle lay between him and the accomplishment of his ardent wish, he
did not feel half so happy as he had expected to feel. Home affections
seemed to increase as the hours rushed by which were to be his last in
the bosom of his family; every familiar object became precious as the
thought arose that it might be seen for the last time; favourites, both
men and animals, had to be bidden farewell. There was the old forester,
the gleeman, the warder, the gardener, the chamberlain, the cellarius,
the cook (not an unimportant personage in Saxon households), the foster
mother, his old nurse, and many a friend in the village. Then there were
his favourite dogs, his pony, some pigeons he had reared; and all had
some claim on his affection, home nurtured as he had been in a most
kindly household.

But the appointed day came, the horse which was to bear him away stood
at the door, another horse loaded with his personal effects stood near,
for carriages were then unknown, neither would the roads have permitted
their use, so changed were the times since the Roman period.

His father and mother, his brother and sister, stood without the
drawbridge, where the last goodbye took place; tears started unbidden to
his eyes--he was only fifteen--as he heard the parting blessing, and
as his mother pressed him to her bosom.

Alfred and his sister Edith seemed almost broken hearted at the parting.
But Elfric tried to bear up, and the end came.

The little cavalcade left the castle, two attendants, well armed and
mounted, being his bodyguard.

Again and again he looked back; and when, after a journey of two miles,
the envious woods closed in, and hid the dear familiar home from his
sight, a strange sense of desolation rushed upon him, as if he were
alone in the world.

The route taken by the cavalcade led them in the first place to Warwick,
even then a flourishing Saxon town: this was the limit of Elfric's
previous wanderings, and when they left it for the south, the whole
country was strange to him.

The royal messenger had business at the cathedral city of Dorchester, at
the junction of the Tame and Isis, and they did not take the more direct
route by th