When the reapers assembled for their midday meal, they discussed the merits of the quarrel, and nearly all those who had been brought under the eye of “Edwy the Fair” were eager in pleading his cause, and trying to find some extenuation of his misdeeds in the matter of the illegal marriage, for such it was, from the mildest point of view; and scarcely a voice was raised on the opposite side, until Ella drew near the scene of conversation, and observed that “while God forbid they should judge the matter harshly, yet law was law, and right was right, and a beautiful face or winsome look could not change it.”
Strolling near the field, seemingly absorbed in thought, walked Redwald, and seeing the reapers, he came towards them.
“A picture of peaceful enjoyment,” he quietly said. “How often have I wished I could but lay down sword and lance to take more innocent weapons in hand, and to spend my declining days ’mid scenes like these.”
“Indeed!” said Ella. “It is generally thought that men whose trade is war love their calling.”
“Yes; sometimes the fierce din of battle seems a pastime fit for the gods, but the banquet is apt to cloy.”
“Have you followed your profession for many years?”
“Since I was a mere child; even my boyhood was passed amid the din of arms.”
There were very few professional soldiers in that day, and they were much dreaded. An Englishman was always ready to take up arms when lawfully called by his feudal superior, or when home or civil rights were in danger, but he generally laid them down and returned to his fields with joy; hence the rustics looked upon a man like Redwald with much undisguised curiosity.
“Think you we shall soon hear from the contending parties?” asked Alfred, who was, as usual, in attendance upon his father.
“Perhaps by nightfall; one of my men has just returned to tell me that the king’s progress was stopped by an entrenched camp of the rebels, and that they expected to fight at early dawn.”