"What a coil and a clatter has been past me, surely," he said. "I doubt there must be a raid over the border, from what I hear the men shouting."
"More than that, friend," I said gravely, looking straight at him. "The Welsh are on us in all earnest, and tomorrow we must meet them somewhere yonder, where the sun is setting."
He looked at me, and his face flushed redder and redder.
"What, fighting in the air?" he said, with a sort of new interest.
"War,--nothing more or less," answered Herewald with a groan.
"I am in luck for once," he said, leaping up. "Let me go with you, Oswald; for this is what I have never seen."
"Hold hard, son-in-law," cried the ealdorman. "What of the wedding?"
His face fell, and he stared at us blankly, but his cheek paled.
"Forgive me," he said. "I never can manage to keep more than one thing in my head at a time. Here was I thinking of nought but that, until this news came and drove out all else. Don't tell Elfrida that I forgot it."
"Trouble enough for her without that," answered Herewald. "You cannot hold back, maybe, though indeed, not one will think the worse of you if you do so. We must tell Elfrida what has befallen, however, and she must speak her mind on your doings. Come, let us find her."