Edwy the Fair or the First Chronicle of Aescendune Read online

without one prayer. Edwy left him inthe dark, and there he lay, his head throbbing, and a burning thirstseeming to consume him.

  Long before morning he was very sick, and when the bell was sounded forthe early mass it need hardly be said that he was unable to rise.

  Sigebert the physician, who, like Redwald, was in the confidence of thefuture king, Edwy, came in to see him, and asked what was the matter.

  "I am very sick and ill," gasped Elfric.

  "I suppose you have taken something that disagreed with you--too muchfish perhaps." (with a smile).

  "No--no--I do not--"

  "I understand," said the leech; "you will soon be better; meanwhile, Iwill account for your absence at chapel. Here, take this medicine; youwill find it relieve you."

  And he gave Elfric a mixture which assuaged his burning thirst, andbathed his forehead with some powerful essence which refreshed himgreatly, whereupon the leech departed.

  Only an hour later, and Edred, hearing from the physician of Elfric'ssudden illness, came in to see the boy, whose bright cheerful face andmerry disposition had greatly attracted him. This was hardest of all forElfric to bear; he had to evade the kind questions of the king, and tohear expressions of sympathy which he felt he did not deserve.

  More than once he felt inclined to tell all, but the fear of the princerestrained him, and also a sense of what he thought honour, for he wouldnot betray his companion, and he could not confess his own guilt withoutimplicating Edwy.

  Poor boy! it would have been far better for him had he done so: he hadtaken his first step downward.

  CHAPTER VI. LOWER AND LOWER.

  It becomes our painful duty to record that from the date of the feast,described in our last chapter, the character of poor Elfric underwentrapid deterioration. In the first place, the fact of his having yieldedto the forbidden indulgence, and--as he felt--disgraced himself,gave Edwy, as the master of the secret, great power over him, and henever failed to use this power whenever he saw any inclination on thepart of his vassal to throw off the servitude. It was not that hedeliberately intended to injure Elfric, but he had come to regard virtueas either weakness or hypocrisy, at least such virtues as temperance,purity, or self restraint.

  The great change which was creeping over Elfric became visible toothers: he seemed to lose his bright smile; the look of boyish innocencefaded from his countenance, and gave place to an expression of sullenreserve; he showed less ardour in all his sports and pastimes, becamesubject to fits of melancholy, and often seemed lost in thought, anxiousthought, in the midst of his studies.

  He seldom had the power, even if the will, to communicate with home.Mercia was in many respects an independent state, subject to the sameking, but governed by a code of laws differing from those of Wessex; andit was only when a royal messenger or some chance traveller left courtfor the banks of the Midland Avon, that Elfric could use the art ofwriting, a knowledge he was singular in possessing, thanks to the wisdomof his sire.

  So the home authorities knew little of the absent one, for whom theyoffered up many a fervent prayer, and of whom they constantly spoke andthought. And yet, so mysterious are the ways of Providence, it seemed asif these prayers were unanswered--seemed indeed, yet they were notforgotten before God.

  Seemed forgotten; for Elfric was rapidly becoming reckless. Manysubsequent scenes of indulgence had followed the first one, and otherhaunts, residences of licentious young nobles, or taverns, had beensought out by the youths, and always by Redwald's connivance.

  He was Edwy's evil genius, and always seemed at hand whensoever theprince sought occasion to sin. Still, he was not at all suspected byEdred, before whom he kept up an appearance of the strictest morality--always punctual in his attendance at mass, matins, and evensong, andwith a various stock of phrases of pious import ready at tongue in caseof need or opportunity of using them to advantage.

  To Elfric, his behaviour was always reserved, yet he seemed even moreready to lend him a helping hand downward than did the prince.

  So time passed on; weeks became months; and Christmas with all itshallowed associations had passed; it had been Elfric's first Christmasaway from home, and he was sad at heart, in spite of the boisterousmerriment of his companions. The spring of the year 955 came on, andLent drew near, a season to which Edwy looked forward with great dread,for, as he said, there would be nothing in the whole palace to eat untilEaster, and he could not even hope to bribe the cook.

  The canons of the church required all persons to make confession, and soenter upon the fast tide, having "thus purified their minds;" [x]it may, alas! be easily guessed how the guilty lads performed this duty,how enforced confession only led to their adding the sin of furtherdeceit, and that of a deadly kind.

  Thus they entered upon Lent: their abstinence was entirely compulsory,not voluntary; and although they made up for it in some degree when theycould get away from the palace, yet even this was difficult, for it waspositively unlawful for butchers to sell or for people to buy meat atthe prohibited seasons, and the law was not easily evaded. But it was aprayerless Lent also to Elfric, for he had, alas! even discontinued hishabit of daily prayer, a habit he had hitherto maintained fromchildhood, a habit first learned at his mother's knee.

  Holy Week came, and was spent with great strictness; the king seemed todivide his whole time between the business of state and the duties ofreligion.

  Dunstan was absent at Glastonbury, but other ecclesiastics thronged thepalace, and there were few, save the guilty boys and Redwald, who seemeduninfluenced by the solemn commemoration.

  But it must not be supposed that Elfric was wholly uninfluenced: afterthe preaching of the Passion by a poor simple monk on Good Friday, heretired to his own little room, where he wept as if his heart wouldbreak. Had Dunstan been then in town, the whole story would have beentold, and much misery saved, for Elfric felt he could trust him if hecould trust anybody; but unhappily Dunstan was, as we have seen, keepingPassiontide at his abbey.

  Still, Elfric felt he must tell all, and submit to the advice andpenance which might be imposed; and as he sat weeping over his sin thatGood Friday night, with the thought that he might find pardon and peacethrough the Great Sacrifice so touchingly pleaded that day, he felt thatthe first step to amendment must lie in a full and frank confession ofall; he knew he should grievously offend Edwy, and that he should losethe favour of his future king, but he could not help it.

  "Why, oh why did I leave Aescendune, dear Aescendune?--fool that I was--I will go back."

  And a sweet desire of home and kindred rose up before him--of hisfather's loving welcome, his fond mother's chaste kiss, and of the dearold woods and waters--the hallowed associations of his home life. Herose up to seek Father Benedict, determined to enter upon the path ofpeace at any cost, when Edwy entered.

  He did not see in the gathering darkness the traces of emotion visibleon poor Elfric's countenance, and he began in his usual careless way--"How are you, Elfric, my boy; glad Lent is nearly over? What a dismaltime that wretched monk preached this morning!"

  "Edwy, I am utterly miserable: I must tell all; I cannot live like thisany longer."

  "What a burst of penitence! go to confession; to be sure it looks well,and if one can only manage to get out a few tears they account him asaint; tell me the receipt."

  "But, Edwy, I must tell all!"

  "Not if you are wise."

  "Why not? It is all in secrecy."

  "No it is not; you will be required as a penance to go and tell the kingall that we have done; you may do so, and I will manage to representmatters so as to throw the whole blame on you; you will be sent home indisgrace."

  Poor Elfric hung down his head; the thought of his disgrace reachinghome had not occurred to him.

  "Come," said Edwy, "I don't want to be hard upon you. Cheer up, my man.What have you done amiss? Only enjoyed yourself as nature has guidedyou. Why should you think God meant us to pass through life like thosemiserable shavelings Edred delights to honour? Cheer
up, Elfric; yourbright face was never meant for that of a hypocrite. If you are sodreadfully bad, you are in a pretty numerous company; and I don't thinkthe shavelings believe their own tales about fire and torment hereafter.They are merry enough, considering."

  In short, poor Elfric's short-lived penitence was given to the winds.Edwy went alone to be shriven on the morrow.

  On Easter Day they both received the Holy Communion in the royal chapel.

  From that time remorse ceased to visit the heir of Aescendune, as if hehad at last quenched the Spirit, and he became so utterly wild andreckless, that at last Dunstan thought it necessary to speak to himprivately on the subject. It was nearly six months after Easter.

  The boy entered the study set apart for the use of the great monk andstatesman with a palpitating heart, but he managed to repress itsbeatings, and put on a perfectly unconcerned expression of countenance.He had gained in self