The day wore away, night drew on; he laid himself down and tried to sleep, when he heard voices conversing outside, and recognised Edwy’s tones; immediately after the prince entered.

“What a shame, Elfric,” he said, “to make you a prisoner like this, and to send you away—­for they say you are to go tomorrow—­you shall not be forgotten if ever I become king, and I don’t think it will be long first.  The first thing I shall do will be to send for you; you will come; won’t you?”

“I will be yours for life or death.”

“I knew it, and this is the faithful friend from whom they would separate me; well, we will have this last evening together in peace; old Dunstan has gone out, and Redwald has put a man as your guard who never sees anything he is not wanted to see.”

“What a convenient thing!”

“But you seem very dull; is anything on your mind which I do not know?  What did Dunstan say to you?”

“He is going to write home to my father all particulars.  It will make home miserable.”

“Perhaps we may find a remedy for that,” said Edwy, and left the room hastily.

Shortly he returned in company with Redwald.

“Come with us, Elfric,” said the prince “there is no one in the palace to interfere with us.  Old Dunstan received a sudden message, and has gone out hastily; we will go and see what he has written.”

Somewhat startled at the audacity of the proposal, Elfric followed the prince, and Redwald accompanied them.  After passing through a few passages, they arrived at the cell, or rather study, usually occupied by Dunstan when at court, and entered it, not without a slight feeling of dread, or rather of reluctance.

“Here it is,” said Edwy, and held up a parchment, folded, sealed, and directed to “Ella, Thane of Aescendune.”

“I should like to know what he has written,” said the prince.  “Redwald, you understand these things; can you open the letter without breaking the seal?”

“There is no need of that,” replied the captain of the hus-carles, “I can easily seal it again; see, there is the signet, and here the wax.”

So he broke the letter open and extended it to the prince, whose liberal education had given him the faculty of reading the monkish Latin, in which Dunstan wrote, at a glance, and he read aloud: 

“To my brother in Christ,

“Ella, thane of Aescendune—­

“It grieveth me much, most beloved brother, to be under the necessity of sending your son Elfric home in some little disgrace; but it is, alas a necessity that I should do so, in virtue of the authority our good lord and king, Edred, hath entrusted to me.  The lad was bright, and, I think, innocent of aught like deadly sin, when he came to this huge Babel, where the devil seems to lead men even as he will, and he hath fallen here into evil company—­nay,