“Because, my lord,” said Wilfrid, “I knew that you must perish if I abandoned you.”

“Ah!  Wilfrid,” said the prince, bursting into tears, “I deserve not this goodness from you, for of late I have treated you very unkindly; I know and feel that I have:  can you forgive me?”

“Think no more of it, my lord, I pray you,” replied Wilfrid, pressing the burning hand of the prince to his lips.  “I freely forgive all that has passed, and only wish you to remember it, whenever you feel disposed to yield to the impulses of a defective temper, which, for your own sake, rather than mine, I earnestly hope you will correct.”

Prince Edwin bowed his face on the bosom of his faithful page, and wept long and passionately, promising, at the same time, amendment of his faults if ever it should please his Heavenly Father to raise him up from the bed of sickness on which he then lay.

How careful should young people be to perform the resolutions of correcting their evil habits which they make at moments when sickness or adversity brings them to a recollection of their evil propensities.  Yet, alas! how often is it that such promises are forgotten, as soon as they find themselves in a condition to repeat their faults.

Thus it was with Prince Edwin.  Instead of seeking the assistance of a higher power than his own weak will to strengthen and support him in the right path, he contented himself with saying, “I am determined to begin a fresh course; to correct my hasty, imperious temper; to pursue my studies steadily and perseveringly; and to shun the society of those who, by flattery and false speaking, seek to increase my foolish vanity, and impede my improvement!”

Now it was easy to say all this, but very difficult to put these good resolutions into practice.  Prince Edwin, neglecting to implore the Divine aid to strengthen him in their performance, soon yielded to temptation, and in a little time, listened to the pernicious flatteries of Brithric with as much pleasure as he had done before the period of his sickness.

It was to no purpose that the faithful Wilfrid remonstrated with him, and pointed out the fatal consequences that result from listening to the false commendations of those who pay no regard to truth.  Prince Edwin loved to hear himself praised, even for those very qualities in which he was most deficient.  He grew weary of Wilfrid’s admonitions, and frequently reproved him when he ventured to reason with him, or attempted to offer the counsel of a true friend.

Brithric was, as I said before, much older than the prince or any of the royal wards.  He was artful and ambitious, and had formed in his heart a wicked project for his own advancement, which was too likely to plunge the country into the horrors of a civil war.  This project was no less than that of attempting to induce Prince Edwin to set himself up for king, and to claim the throne as the eldest legitimate son of the late King Edward.