ere," he said, smiling gently. "Now all seems
plain to me, and I will say that this is even what I thought you
would wish to do. How shall it be if we bid Erpwald, for the deed
of his father, to build a church in Eastdean and there to keep a
priest, that all men shall know how that the martyr is honoured,
and the land be the better for his death?"

Nought better than this could be, as I thought, and I told the king
so.

"Why, then," he said, "that is well. I shall have pleased both
parties, as I hope. I know you will meet him in all friendliness."

Then he let me go, and it was with a light heart that I parted from
him. Now I knew that my father's grave and memory would be held in
more than common honour, and I was content.

Men would miss Owen sorely here, but, save for that, I had so often
acted for him in these last two years that my being altogether in
his place made little difference to any one, or even to myself in a
few days. That last was as well for myself, as it seems to me, for
I was not over proud, as I might have been had the post been new to
me. As it was, I do not think that there was any jealousy over it,
or at least I never found it out. My friends rejoiced openly, and
if any one wondered that the king should so trust a man of my age,
the answer that I had saved Ina's life was enough to satisfy all.

My men drank my health in their quarters that night, and after I
got over the little strangeness of sitting on the high place next
to Nunna, things went on, save for the want of Owen about the
court, even as when he was the marshal and I but his squire, as it
were.

I saw young Erpwald for the first time soon after the king had
spoken of him to me, and I liked the look of him well enough. He
was some few years older than I, square and strong, with a round
red face and light hair, pleasant in smile, if not over wise
looking. One would say that he might be a good friend, but one
could hardly think of him as willingly the enemy of any man. Some
one made me known to him as the son of Owen, as was usual, and as
such would I be known to him for a while; but for some time I saw
little of him, not caring to seek his company, as indeed there was
no reason for me to do so.

The next thing that I heard of him was that he had made a great
friend of the ealdorman since he came here, being often at his
house. It was not so long before I met him there, though my pride,
which would not let me risk another rebuff,