The old nurse turned and left me as swiftly as she had come.  And now it is in my mind that she went thus lest she should weep.  So I was alone in the hall, and there was no more left for me to do.  I must even let things be as she would.  It came into my thought that she was right about our half-Danish folk, for though they had fought to keep the newcomers from the land that their fathers had won, Swein was no foreigner, and they would as soon own him as Ethelred of Wessex, if he got the upper hand and would give them peace.  Even we Angles never forgot that the race of Ecgberht was Saxon and not of our own kin altogether.  The Dane was as near to us as the Wessex king, save by old comradeship, and the ties that had come with years.

So all that Edred and I could do was to bid the steward take his orders from Gunnhild, and so ride back to Bures along the riverside track.  And when we came there the long train of flying people were crossing the bridge, and we rode past them one by one, and the sight of those wain loads of helpless women and children was the most piteous I had ever seen.  Many such another train was I to look on in the years to come, but none ever wrung my heart as this, for I knew every face so well.  Yet I thought they would be safe, for the Danes were far off yet, and there was full time to gain the depths of the forest land on the East Saxon side.

Now, our people had gone on more quickly than the villagers by reason of better cattle and more hands to the work, and when we had passed the foremost of these, the road went up the hill and no man was upon it.  So we went quickly, and then came one on foot towards the village, and just beyond him were our folk, whom he had passed or left.

It was good Father Ailwin, our old priest, and I thought that he sought me, or took back some word to others and I would ride back for him.

“What is it, Father?” I cried, “I will do your errand.”

“Nay, my son, you cannot,” he said; “your mother drew me to fly with her, and my weakness bade me do it for a while.  But I may not leave my place.  The Danes are not all heathen as they were in Eadmund’s days, and I think that I am wrong to go.  When our folk come back they must find their priest waiting for them.”

Then I strove to turn him again to flight with us, but I could not, and at last he commanded me to desist and leave him.  And so he gave me his blessing, and I went, being sure that he would be slain, and weeping therefore, for I loved him well.  But I told him of Dame Gunnhild’s words, and begged him to seek her and speak with her, for she might hide him also for a while if he would not leave the place altogether.

So we left our home, and that was the last time I set eyes on our hall at Bures.  Then I caught up my mother hard by the dark wood that is round the great solemn mound that we say is the tomb of Boadicea, the Icenian queen of the men who fought against Rome.  We call it haunted, and none of us dare set foot in those woods, by day even.