"Have you seen Edric the sheriff?" asked Elfwyn.
"Not lately. Has he been here?"
"He has, and there was something in connection with his visit which troubled me. He had been telling me for a long time about the cruelties and insolence of the Danes, when he added, in a marked manner, that they might go too far, for hundreds of their countrymen, like Anlaf here, were living unprotected amongst us."
"What could he mean?"
"I understood him to hint that we might revenge ourselves upon them, and replied that whatever their countrymen might be guilty of, our neighbours would, of course, always be safe amongst Christians."
"What did he reply?"
"He changed the subject."
Elfwyn said no more, but bade me goodbye and returned to the castle; still I saw that he was a little discomposed by the sheriff's words. I don't like that sheriff; he is a cruel and a crafty man; but I daresay his words were only the expression of a passing thought.
[CHAPTER II]. "ALFGAR, SON OF ANLAF."
SUNDAY, November 6th.--