“Then I will excommunicate thee, and deliver thy soul to Satan.”

And he began to utter some awful Latin imprecation, which so aroused the superstition of the sentinel that he made no further opposition, which perhaps saved his life, for the retainers of Aescendune were meditating instant violence, indignant at the delay and the outrage to their lady.

They themselves let the drawbridge down and guarded the sad cortege over the plain.  Their numbers increased every moment, and before they reached the neighbourhood of the priory they had little cause to fear any attack, should Redwald have arrived and have been rash enough to attempt one.

The old parsonage house, which had served for the residence of each successive parish prior or mass-thane, was a large and commodious building, containing all such accommodation as the family absolutely required in the emergency, while furniture, provision and comforts of all kinds were sent over from the priory, for the good fathers did not forget at this hour of need that they owed their own home to the liberality of Ella and his father.

So when they had deposited the loved remains before the altar of the church, and had knelt a brief season in prayer, the exiled family took possession of their temporary home.  It was hard—­very hard—­to give up their loved dwelling at such a season of affliction, but the dread which Redwald had somehow inspired made it a great relief to be removed from his immediate presence.

Yet they could give no reason for the feeling they all shared.  Father Cuthbert evidently suspected, or knew, things which he as yet concealed from them.

“Who could have slain the husband and father?”

This was the unanswered question.  Their suspicions could only turn to Redwald or some of his crew:  no marauders were known to lurk in the forest; there was, they felt assured, not one of his own people who would not have died in his defence.  Again, it was not the lust of gold which had suggested the deed, for they had found the gold chain he wore untouched.  What then could have been the motive of the murderer?

Father Cuthbert had found a solution, which was based upon sad experience of the traditional feuds so frequently handed down from father to son.  Still he would not suggest further cause of disquietude, and added no further words.

The utter uncertainty about Elfric was another cause of uneasiness.  Whether he had gone southward with the king, or had fallen on the battlefield, they knew not; or whether he had surrendered with the prisoners taken in the entrenched camp, and who had been all admitted to mercy.

In the course of the morning they saw Redwald return, laden with the spoils of the Grange farm—­oxen and sheep, waggons containing corn, driven before him.  What passed within on his entrance they could not tell; how narrow their escape they knew not—­were not even certain it had been an escape at all.