"When at last the hour came for her to commit her sweet soul to God, I stood by her dying bed.
"'Mother,' said I, 'what can I do when thou art gone to show my love for thy memory?'
"'Only go on as thou hast begun,' she replied, 'be a father to all thy people, Englishman and Norman alike, and their prayers will succour thee at the judgment seat of God--I go into peace.'
"And she left peace behind her--"
Here Etienne could say no more, and the two "rival heirs" stood a long time gazing upon the "cold marble and the sculptured stone," while tears which were no disgrace to their manhood fell like gentle rain from heaven.
Soon after this Wilfred had a long conference with Prior Kenelm. The result was, that he announced his intention of retiring from the world and ending his days in the cloister. His years had been years of strife and tumult--he would give the residue to God.
So he entered the famous order of St. Benedict, and after the death of Father Kenelm became the prior of the monastery dedicated to his patron saint--founded by his own forefathers.
His greatest joy was when surrounded by his nephews and nieces--yea, great-nephews and great-nieces, after the happy marriage of Edward of Aescendune to Lady Agatha of Wilmcote.
Etienne and Edith lived blessed in each other's love to the end. The Norman estates fell to Hugh, the English ones to Edward, who not unworthily represented both English and Norman lines--"a knight without fear and without reproach."
The last years of our hero, Wilfred, were years of tranquil happiness and serene joy, such as Milton wrote of in later ages, in those lines of wondrous beauty: