"Aye, lady," said Wulfhere again, "as a good Saxon should."
"Must I go from here?" she asked again; and I told her that the house would be burnt, maybe, in an hour or so.
At that she shivered, and tried not to weep, being very brave.
"Where must we go?" she said, with a little tremble in her voice.
I told her where we would take her, and then she cried out that she must bide near at hand lest her father should be hurt, and none to tend him.
And Wulfhere and I tried a little to overpersuade her, but then a groom came to say that all was ready.
And, truly, no time must be lost, if we would get off safely.
Then I said that it would be safe to go to Bridgwater, for then we should be behind the levy, and that the Danes must cut through that before reaching us. And to that Wulfhere agreed, for I knew he would rather be swinging his sword against the Danes at Stert than flying through the woods of the Quantocks.
Alswythe thanked me, without words indeed, and then in a few minutes she was mounted, and we were going up towards the high road to Bridgwater. We had twelve horses, and on them were the women of the house, bearing what valuables they might, as Wulfhere had bade them. One horse carried two women, but they were a light burden, and we had no such terrible haste to make, seeing that every moment brought us nearer the levy. There were the men and boys as well, but they led the beasts.
Now when we reached the high road, some half mile away, suddenly Alswythe reined up her horse, by which I walked, giving a little cry, and I asked what it was.