Isabel Ecclestone Mackay - "The Window Gazer"

Captain Wilbur Lawton - "The Boy Aviators' Polar Dash"

John Kendrick Bangs - "The Water Ghost and Others"

Margaret Turnbull - "W. A. G.'s Tale"

Wulf the Saxon

G >> G. A. Henty >> Wulf the Saxon




"It is the greatest wish of my life," Wulf replied gratefully. "I should
have asked you for her hand before had it not been for the position of
public affairs. I love her dearly, though I have until now abstained from
speaking; and yet I would not wed her unless her heart went freely with her
hand."

"I think not that she will be disobedient to my wishes," De Burg said
smiling. "She has proved deaf to all her Norman suitors, and although among
them were some whom few maidens would have said no to, her mother and I had
no wish to force her inclinations, especially as we both shrewdly suspected
where her heart had been bestowed. This alliance, too, has long been the
dearest wish of Guy. On the bed of sickness where he lay so long, and from
which it seemed at one time that he would never rise, he often spoke to me
of it. He was fondly attached to his sister, and again and again said that
he wished of all things that you should some day become her husband, as he
was sure her happiness would be safe with you, and that you would worthily
fill his place to us, and would, when the time came, rule nobly over the
lands of De Burg."

"God forbid that that should ever be the case," Wulf said earnestly. "I
trust that Guy will live long, and that he will marry and leave descendants
to follow him."

The baron shook his head sadly. "Guy is better," he said, "but he is still
weak and fragile, and the leeches tell me that a rough winter or an illness
that would be nought to others might carry him off. I have small hopes that
he will ever marry. I am sure that no such thought is in his mind. He is as
eager now as he was four years ago that you should be a son to us, and a
husband to Agnes. He has also earnestly expressed the wish, in which I also
join, that you should take our name. You English have no family names, but
that will come with other Norman customs, and marrying a De Burg it would
seem natural that you should yourself become Wulf de Burg."

"I should feel it a high honour. There is no more noble name in Normandy,
and I trust I may prove worthy of bearing it."

"That I have no fear of, Wulf, else I should not have offered you the hand
of my daughter. I will bring my wife and Guy in. I have offered you the
hand of Agnes, but it is right that you should ask her mother's consent,
although beforehand assured of it."

He left the room, and soon returned with Lady de Burg and Guy.

"My lord has told me," she said, before Wulf could speak, "that you would
ask my consent to your marriage with Agnes. I give it you unasked, freely
and gladly. I have but one regret--that the seas will divide us."

"Not so," the baron said; "William's court will be held in London, and for
years he will reside here far more than in Normandy, and will expect his
nobles to be frequently with him. I certainly shall not come alone, and you
will therefore have as many opportunities of seeing Agnes as if she were
married to a Norman whose estates did not lie near our own."

"I thank you most deeply, Lady de Burg, for the confidence which you show
in intrusting your daughter's happiness to me. I swear that with all my
might and power I will strive to make her happy, and will spare her to
visit you in Normandy whensoever you may wish it."

Guy came forward now and grasped Wulf's hand.

"How I have longed for this time, my brother," he said. "How I have hoped
that I might at least live long enough to know that the dearest wish of my
heart would be gratified. I can go hence now right willingly when God calls
me, knowing that my father and mother have another son to fill my place,
and that the happiness of my sister is secured."

"And now, wife, will you fetch Agnes from her chamber," the baron said.

In two or three minutes the baroness returned, leading Agnes, to whom she
had told the reason of her summons. The baron stepped forward and took her
hand.

"My daughter," he said, "the Thane of Steyning has asked for your hand in
marriage, and your mother and I have given our free and full consent, but
he would fain know from your own lips that you will come to him willingly."

"I have loved you, Agnes, since while still but a boy I first saw you, and
my love has grown ever since. The happiness of my life depends upon your
answer, but unless your heart goes with your hand I would rather remain
unmarried to my dying day."

The girl had stood with downcast eyes and with flushed face until now. When
Wulf ceased speaking she looked up into his face:

"I love you, Wulf; I have always loved you. It is for your sake that I have
said no to the suitors of my own race who have sought my hand. I will be a
true wife and loving to you."

"Then take her, Wulf," the baron said, placing her hand in his. "You are
now her betrothed husband and our adopted son."

Wulf stooped and kissed the girl's lips, and the betrothal was completed.
After some talk it was arranged that Wulf should at once journey down to
Steyning, assume possession of his new estates, set the house in order, and
prepare for their coming. Guy was to accompany him, and as soon as all was
in readiness Wulf would come up to London and return with Lord and Lady de
Burg and Agnes, who would pay a short visit and all would then cross to
Normandy, for the marriage was to take place at their chateau there.

"I was sure how it would be," Osgod said when Wulf told him the news that
night. "I should have been blind indeed if I had not seen it long ago. I
love not the Normans, but I make exception in the case of Lord de Burg and
his family. And truly it will in all respects be a good thing for your
tenants. Although the duke, or I suppose I ought to say the king, promises
greatly at present, there is no saying what he may do later on; and he has
all these locusts to provide for. 'Tis well indeed, then, that there should
be a Norman lady as well as an English thane at Steyning."

Wulf's return home gave rise to demonstrations of the greatest joy among
his tenants. They had heard nothing of him since the battle, and had deemed
him to have fallen with the rest of the defenders of the standard, and had
been living in fear of the arrival of some Norman baron to be their lord.
Wulf was greatly pleased to find that, although not one of his housecarls
had returned from Hastings, the greater portion of his irregular levies had
escaped at nightfall with the party who had inflicted so heavy a blow upon
their pursuers. For the next few days Wulf was thoroughly occupied. The
tenants of his new estates received him almost as joyfully as his own had
done, for, like them, they had expected the advent of a Norman master. In
one of the two estates that had fallen to him the thane he had succeeded
had left no heirs; while the other thane had left a widow and a young
family. Wulf arranged that these should remain in their home, receiving for
their maintenance half the rents of the estate.

Guy was greatly pleased with the fair country in which his sister's lot was
to be cast, but he owned frankly that the house seemed unworthy now of the
large estate, and was indeed but a poor place in comparison with the noble
chateau in which she had been brought up.

"That shall be remedied, Guy, as soon as matters settle down. I have laid
by none of my revenues, for the keeping up of a hundred housecarls has
taxed them to the utmost, but now that my income is more than doubled, and
this expense has altogether ceased, I shall have funds with which I can
soon begin to build. When I was young, Steyning seemed to me a fine house,
but after your Norman castles it is indeed but a poor place."

When, a fortnight later, the De Burgs arrived with Wulf, while Agnes
expressed herself delighted with the quaintness of the old Saxon home, her
father and mother were decidedly of Guy's opinion.

"The house is a good house in its way," the Baron said, "but there will be
great changes in the land. Much of it will be transferred to Norman hands,
and ere long castles and chateaux like ours at home will rise everywhere,
and as an English noble with broad lands it is but fit that your residence
should vie with others. But this shall be my care, and shall be my
daughter's special dowry. I foresee that it will be long ere matters wholly
settle down. Moreover, though William's hand is strong that of his
successor may be weak, and in time there will be the same troubles here
among the barons that there were in Normandy before William put them down
with a strong hand. Therefore, I should say we will build a castle rather
than a chateau, for such I am sure will be the style of all the Norman
buildings here, until England settles down to peace and quiet. I would not
disturb this house, Wulf; it is doubtless dear to you, and will, moreover,
serve as a dowager-house or as an abode for a younger son. We will fix on a
new site altogether, and there we will rear a castle worthy of the estate.
By the way, I have spoken to the king of your betrothal to my daughter, and
he is highly pleased. He says that it is his earnest wish that his Norman
nobles shall marry English heiresses, both because they will thus come into
possession of lands without disturbing the owners, and because such mixture
of blood will the more speedily weld the two peoples into one; and that,
similarly, he is glad to see a Norman maiden united to an English noble of
whom he has so high an opinion."

Fond as Wulf was of his old home he saw that it would be best to abandon it
for a new residence more suited to the times and more in accordance with
his own increased possessions and the home from which he was taking his
wife. After riding round the estates Lord de Burg and he fixed upon a knoll
of rising ground near the village of Bramber, and not far from the
religious house where Wulf had spent so many evenings, and whose prior had
been one of the first to welcome his return.

"I will charter a ship at Rouen," Lord de Burg said, "and send over a
master craftsman, skilful in designing and building castles, and a large
number of quarrymen, masons, and carpenters. Labour here is scarce, and the
men are unskilled at this kind of work. Rough labour can doubtless be
obtained, and your tenants can transport the stones from the quarry and dig
the fosse. I will send over a goodly number of men. It will cost no more to
employ three hundred for six months than fifty for three years."

A week later Wulf sailed for Rouen with the De Burgs Beorn accompanied him,
as well as Osgod, to be present at the wedding, which took place at Rouen
Cathedral. A month later Wulf returned with his wife to Steyning. Already
an army of men were at work at Bramber. The tenants all gave their
assistance readily, and far beyond the amount their feudal tenure required,
for they saw the advantage it would be to them to have a strong castle in
their midst to which they could retire in case of danger. Labourers had
been engaged in large numbers from the country round by the master
craftsmen. The outlines of the castle had been traced, and the ground dug
for its foundations, while already the broad deep fosse which was to
surround it had been dug to a depth of several feet. The stones had to be
brought from a considerable distance, but as at this time of year there was
little work for the carts, those belonging not only to the tenants of the
estate, but to the cultivators for miles round were engaged in the service.

In six months a stately pile had risen in the midst of the tranquil glade.
When it was ready for occupation Lord and Lady de Burg and their son came
over, and great festivities were held when Wulf de Burg (now Lord of
Bramber) moved into the castle.

Soon after the birth of their first son Wulf and his wife received a hasty
summons to cross the sea, and arrived in time to stand by the death-bed of
Guy. Wulf had been greatly moved by the storm of war that had swept over
the North of England, and the terrible vengeance taken by William there.
He had no pity for the traitor earls, but he grieved for the men who, but
for their treachery, would have fought at Hastings. He regretted deeply
the isolated risings in various parts of the country, whose only effect was
to bring ruin upon whole districts and to increase the sternness and rigour
of William's rule.

Wulf's after-life was divided between England and Normandy, as he became a
baron of the latter country at the death of Lord de Burg. He fought no more
in England, but more than once followed William's banner in his struggles
with his rebellious sons and turbulent nobles. He lived to see the
animosities between Englishmen and Normans beginning to die out, and to
find our kings relying upon sturdy English men-at-arms and bow-men in their
struggles with French kings and with the Norman barons who held so large a
portion of English soil. Osgod became the seneschal of the castle, and held
it for his lord during his absences in Normandy. Wulf took an interest in
the fortunes of Ulf, who in the course of time succeeded to the business of
Ulred, and became one of the most skilled and famous armourers in London.
Beorn married the former heiress of one of the estates William had granted
him, and his firm friendship with the Lord of Bramber remained unbroken to
the end of their lives.

Copyright (c) 2007. topbookz.net. All rights reserved.