“Will he not be here soon?”
“Yes, he is coming this morning, the old bear, to superintend my progress, and I wish him joy thereof.”
“What has he given you to do?” inquired Elfric.
“Why, a wretched exercise to write out. There, you see it before you; isn’t it a nuisance?”
“It is not very hard, is it?”
“Don’t you think it hard? See whether you can do it!”
Elfric smiled, and wrote out the simple Latin with ease, for he had been well instructed by Father Cuthbert at Æscendune.
He had scarcely finished when a firm step was heard upon the stairs.
“Hush,” said Edwy; “here comes Dunstan. Be sure you look solemn enough,” and he composed his own countenance into an expression of preternatural gravity.
The door opened, and an ecclesiastic in the prime of life entered the room, one whose mien impressed the beholder with an indefinable awe.