ore or less.
Maybe it would have passed altogether but that there were the
differences between the ways of the two Churches which were always
cropping up and making things bitter again, and those were the
troubles that Aldhelm, whom Gerent honoured, had most tried to
smooth away with some sort of success. Yet it was well known that
many of the Welsh priests and people were sorely against peace with
the men who followed the way of Austin of Canterbury.

As for me, I almost wondered that Ina seemed so ready to part with
Owen, but presently I saw that if Gerent owned him again, my foster
father would be a link between the two kingdoms, which would make
for peace in every way. But for all that, in my own heart was a
sort of half hope that in spite of what the Norseman had heard,
Owen would not be welcomed back to the west, else I should lose him
altogether. There was no intercourse between our courts, now that
Aldhelm was gone.

But in the morning, when I came to say some of this to Owen, he
smiled at me, and said:

"Wait, Oswald. Time enough for trouble when it comes. Maybe you and
I will be back here this evening, and if not, I hope that my
staying with my uncle will mean peace between our lands. Let it be
so till we have seen what may be our fortune at Norton."

So I tried to let the trouble pass, and indeed at the morning meal
I had my new rank to think of, for my comrades would not forget it,
nor would they let me do so. The first man to greet me as thane was
Thorgils the Norseman, too, and he went with me to see to choosing
men and horses for our journey, and I was glad of his gossip, for
it kept me from thinking overmuch of the heavier things that had
kept me waking.

He would guide us across the hills to Norton, where Gerent was; for
though we knew somewhat of the Quantocks, beyond them we did not
go. The palace where the king lay was an ancient Roman stronghold,
and had belonged to Morgan, who was dead; and though Thorgils had
heard that Gerent was there to seek Owen, it was more likely that
he had come to see that the outlawed brothers did not gather any
force against him in their own place. It was many a year since he
had been so near our border.

Presently Thorgils would go down the town to the inn where he had
bestowed his horse, and I went with him, having an hour left before
we started, rather than face any more banter concerning my
thanedom. It was almost in my mind to go to the ealdorman's house
t