"Nay," answered Haco; "their cause is already prejudged in their
favour. And thou must ally thyself with the heirs of Leofric, and the
successors of Siward."

Harold made no answer. There was something in the positive tone of
this beardless youth that displeased him; but he remembered that Haco
was the son of Sweyn, Godwin's first-born, and that, but for Sweyn's
crimes, Haco might have held the place in England he held himself, and
looked to the same august destinies beyond.

In the evening a messenger from the Roman house arrived, with two
letters for Harold; one from Hilda, that contained but these words:
"Again peril menaces thee, but in the shape of good. Beware! and,
above all, of the evil that wears the form of wisdom."

The other letter was from Edith; it was long for the letters of that
age, and every sentence spoke a heart wrapped in his.

Reading the last, Hilda's warnings were forgotten. The picture of
Edith--the prospect of a power that might at last effect their union,
and reward her long devotion--rose before him, to the exclusion of
wilder fancies and loftier hopes; and his sleep that night was full of
youthful and happy dreams.

The next day the Witan met. The meeting was less stormy than had been
expected; for the minds of most men were made up, and so far as Tostig
was interested, the facts were too evident and notorious, the
witnesses too numerous, to leave any option to the judges. Edward, on
whom alone Tostig had relied, had already, with his ordinary