The king, as a matter of course, opened the conversation, when the edge of desire was gone.
"Have the levies who served in the war all been disbanded, Sheriff?"
"The last returned from the garrisons in Sussex a week ago, and are all hoping for a quiet winter in the bosom of their families."
"Have they lost many of their number? Did the people of this hundred suffer greatly in the war which Sweyn forced upon us?"
"Not very many; still there has been a little mourning, and much anticipation of future evil," replied the bishop.
"That is needless," said Edric; "they may all prepare to keep their Christmas with good cheer. The Danes are sleeping, hibernating like bears in their winter caves."
"While they are so near as the Wight, who can rest in peace?" said Ednoth.
"The Wight! it must be a hundred miles from here; the Danes have never reached any spot so far from the coast as this."
"Yet there is an uneasy belief that they will attack the inland districts now that they have exhausted the districts on the coast, and that we must be prepared to suffer as our brethren have done."
"Before they leave their retreat again we shall be ready to meet them; our levies will be better trained and more numerous."