"Long may it be so," he said. "Nevertheless, I think that I shall have to be as a guest here now and then."
Then Ethelburga smiled at my puzzled face, and spoke in her turn.
"Why, Oswald, it seems to me that you are the only man in all Wessex who does not know who is to live here."
"It is always said that the king himself will make it one of his palaces, lady," I answered.
Then Ina set his hand on my shoulder, and made no more secret of what he meant.
"I want you to bide here, my Thane, and hold this unquiet land for me. There is not one who can better rule it from this fortress for me than yourself; and the house and all that is in it is yours, if you will."
Then for a moment came over me that same feeling of loneliness that had kept me from taking Eastdean again, and with it there was the thought that I was not able to take so great a charge on me.
"How can I do this, my King?" I said, not knowing how to put into words all that I felt. "I am not strong enough for such a post."
"Nay," he said gravely. "It is said of me that I do not do things hastily, and it is a true word enough, seeing that I know that I often lose a chance by over caution, maybe. Answer me a question or two fairly, and I think you will see that I may ask you to bide here."
Then he minded me that I alone of all his athelings knew this Welsh tongue as if born thereto, and also that men knew me as the son of Owen the prince, so that the Welsh would hardly hold me as a stranger. That I had found out in these last months while I had been numbering the freemen and their holdings; and as I went about that business I had seen every one that was of any account, so that already I knew all the land I had to rule better than any other. That task, however, had been set me, as I know now, in preparation for this post.