The king left this morning.  His engagements are too numerous to permit him to give much space to recreation.  Before he left he summoned Alfgar, Anlaf, and Elfwyn, to a conference in the library—­for they have a library as of old in the hall—­and then he told Alfgar that he had talked with Anlaf who wished to convey the manorial rights of his former patrimony, and all its revenues, to his son, and to join our brotherhood, and that he desired him to witness the deed.  Now, all the former charters of Aescendune were destroyed in the old hall, and the king had caused a new one to be drawn up, supplying all the defects caused by the loss of the earlier documents; conferring and securing, by royal charter, all the lands of Aescendune, and those formerly appertaining to Anlaf, upon Alfgar, and his successors for ever, not, as he said, as a deed of gift, but as a charter securing and defining their rights and liberties, for him and his successors, to all future generations; and adding all the waste land of the adjacent forest, formerly holden of the crown, to their domains, with right of all temporal jurisdiction, and with the title of Earl, which title is common in the northern and more Danish districts, more so than ealdorman, which obtains in the south.

“Thus much,” said he, “I know my brother Edmund would have done for you, and in his place it has fallen to my lot.

“Would,” he added, “I could be all to you which Edmund would have been had he lived; that, perhaps, is not possible; but I know, Alfgar,” he added, “how to esteem faithfulness, even when it has been sometimes exercised at my expense, for one once a rival, now only thought of as a brother.”

Then he turned to Anlaf.

“Old companion in arms,” he said, “this makes up for Carisbrooke; well, Alfgar, hadst thou yielded then, thou hadst not been here now.  Thy father and I owe thee something for the example thou didst set us.”

And then he turned to Elfwyn and wished him joy of his son.

After that he came to the priory and prayed awhile in front of the altar; his devotions ended, he came to my cell and made me a startling offer of a bishopric in Denmark, saying he thought there was much work to be done for God there, and he thought Englishmen would do it best; and thus, he added, after their Master’s example, return good for evil {xx}.

But an old oak such as I am cannot be uprooted, and perhaps it is a carnal feeling, but I fear my earthly affections bind me here while life lasts, so, thanking him warmly for the distinction implied in the offer, I respectfully but firmly declined it.

And so the king and his retinue left Aescendune.  Elfwyn and Hilda return in a few days to their happy valley; men have been at work for weeks making a good road there from the hall, and the journey will only occupy two or three hours to a good walker.

Herstan and his family leave for their home on the Thames (which has been rebuilt, together with the little church of St. Michael) tomorrow.  Anlaf takes his vows as a novice next Sunday, his novitiate will be as short as the rules of our order allow; we shall all then welcome him as a brother.