“Speak on, boy,” said the abbat; “speak out, my brave boy, and fear nought!”
Being thus heartened, Elfric said: “Then, to speak with reverence before this noble and reverend company, I wot well there were, when I was first at Spalding, and when my Lord Hereward was at Brunn, certain love-passages....”
“Certain what?” said the expelled Abbat of Cockermouth, who was somewhat deaf.
“Love-passages,” said Elfric, looking very archly, and with a laugh in his eyes, if not on his lips; “certain love-passages between the son of the Lord of Brunn and the noble maiden Alftrude, the young daughter and heiress to the lord of the neighbouring town, that old Saxon lord, Albert of Ey.”[[102]]
“Truth, the two houses stood not very far apart,” said the Abbat of Crowland; “but Albert of Ey was no friend to the old Lord of Brunn.”
“Most true, my lord; but Albert died before his neighbour, and left his wide estates to his fair daughter Alftrude, having first given her in ward to this Lanfranc, who is by some called Archbishop of Canterbury, and whose will and power few can gainsay. Moreover, the Ladie Alftrude is cousin to the Ladie Lucia, whom Ivo Taille-Bois hath made his wife; and as that arch-enemy of our house extends his protection to his wife’s cousin, not wishing that her lands should be seized by any hungry Norman other than a relation of his own, the heiress of Ey hath been allowed to live in the old manor-house, and to enjoy such proportion of her father’s wealth as Lanfranc chooseth to allow her. Many Norman knights have sought her hand, as the best means of obtaining her land, but the Saxon maiden had ever said Nay! And Lanfranc, who hath done violence to the very church for his own interest, and Ivo Taille-Bois, who got his own Saxon wife by violence, have hitherto had power enough to prevent any great wrong or violence being done to Ladie Alftrude, the heiress of Ey. Now the Ladie Alftrude remembers the times that are past, and sighs and weeps for the return of Hereward, vowing that she will wed none but him, and that——”
“Thou seemeth well informed in these matters,” said one of the monks; “but prithee, how didst thou obtain thine information?”
Elfric stammered a little, and blushed a good deal as he said, “The young Ladie Alftrude hath long had for her handmaiden one Mildred of Hadenham, a daughter of my late father’s friend, a maiden well behaved and well favoured, and pious withal; and when I was sent to the manor-house of Ey upon the business of our own house at Spalding, and when I met Mildred at the church, or wake, or fair, we were ever wont to talk about my Lord Hereward and my Ladie Alftrude, as well as of other matters.”
“Father Adhelm,” said my Lord Abbat of Crowland in a whisper, “surely thou hast allowed too much liberty to thy convent.”
“My lord,” replied the Prior of Spalding, “It is but a novice that speaks; Elfric is not a cloister monk.”