Near midnight a man came to me and said that a message had come to me
from the other side, and I rose from the board and went out, to find
Eglaf waiting for me in the moonlight. He was armed, and his face was
wan and tired.
"Come apart, friend," he said; "I have a message from the king."
"To me?"
"No, to Havelok. But you must hear it first, and then tell him as you will."
We walked away from the tent and across the hillside for some way, and
then he said without more words, "This is the message that Alsi sends to
Havelok, whose name was Curan. 'Forgive the things that are past, for
many there are that need forgiving. I have no heir, and it is for myself
that I have schemed amiss. In Lincoln town lies a great treasure, of
which Eglaf and I alone know. Give it, I pray you, to your Danes, that
they may harm the land not at all, and so shall I ward off some of the
evil that might come through me even yet. I think that, after me, you
shall be king.'"
"That is wise of Alsi; but is there no word for Goldberga?"
"Ay, but not by my mouth. I fetched David the priest two hours ago, and
he bears those messages."
"Is there yet more to say?" I asked, for it seemed to me that there was.
"There is," he answered. "Alsi is dead."
So there was an end of all his schemings, and I will say no more of
them.
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