"Yonder he stands," he said, "like a king who has fallen on bad times. I
mind that I thought that Alsi, our king, would look like that, before I
saw him, and sorely disappointed was I in him therefore. Now I wonder
who yon man may be?"
I did not say that I knew, but I looked at Havelok, and for the first
time, perhaps because I had never seen him among strangers before, I
knew that he was wondrous to look on. Full head and shoulders was he
above all the folk, and the Lindseymen are no babes in stature. And at
the same moment it came to me that it were not well that men should know
him as the son of Grim the fisher. If my father, who was the wisest of
men, had been so careful for all these years, I must not be less so; for
if there were ever any fear of the spies of Hodulf, it would be now when
his foe might be strong enough in years to think of giving trouble. Not
that I ever thought much of the said Hodulf, seeing how far off he was;
but my father had brought me up to dread him for this brother of mine.
Certainly by this time Hodulf knew that Grim had come to England in
safety, for the name of the new town must have come to his ears: and if
Grim, then the boy he had given to him.
The man who spoke to me went away soon, and Havelok strolled back to me.
"I would that the cook, or whoever he is, would come," he said.
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