CHAPTER XLI.
NOBILITY IN CONTRAST.
"Shall show us how divine a thing
A woman may be made."
Wordsworth.
After the stirring episode which ended in the removal from the scene of the brothers Vigneau, and their henchman Pierre, the relationship between the outlawed Saxons and the Normans,—as it related to the domains owned by De Montfort and those contiguous,—became much more amicable and peaceful. The Saxon colony on the mountains boldly advanced to the valley, and took up without molestation the tilling of the soil. The sturdy outlaws whose home had been the greenwood, and their sustenance the chase and plunder, now many of them returned to the peaceful calling they had pursued before the Normans drave them from their homes, and the plots of ground they lived upon. Intercourse between the races became regular and uninterrupted; intermarrying being of frequent occurrence. The Norman lost in great measure his haughty and overbearing manner, and the Saxon hatred of the Norman accordingly abated. The language also began to be a compound of Saxon and Norman, for each nation was driven by the exigencies of combined intercourse to learn a little of the other's language; and before my eyes daily did I witness the interblending of peoples. This was a joy to me, to Oswald, and to Alice; and indeed no one who thoroughly grasped the situation could ever again look for the overthrow of the Normans; and whilst there were wild, untamed, and irreconcilable Saxons, who fomented strife and rebellion, and on the other hand Normans proud, overbearing and cruel, yet there were to me palpable signs that the two races would eventually become one people, to their mutual advantage.
Happy am I also to relate that, through the interposition of Alice, and the kindness and confidence of De Montfort, I was once more restored to the rule of this monastery, and with its privileges and emoluments but little curtailed. Thus was I able to do much towards the reconciling of these two peoples. Thankful also I am to relate that, amid the multitude of claims upon me, I yet had strength and leisure sufficient to write these chronicles.
The kind reader I hope will pardon me this digression, and the little egotism I have indulged in, and I will proceed once more with this history.
De Montfort made no attempt to ignore the deep obligations that Oswald had laid him under; nor did he attempt to interfere with the plighted troth of these two lovers. Still many misgivings arose in his mind, with regard to the attitude his sovereign would assume towards this union. He knew well that if William disapproved of it, his will would have to be law. He debated long with himself the question, whether it would be best to first obtain William's consent to the marriage, or boldly solve the difficulty by uniting the pair and then presenting them to the king. The bolder course was finally adopted, and the day of the nuptials fixed. By the unanimous wish of all concerned, it was determined that the marriage should be celebrated without pomp and wholesale merriment, as was so often the case; but that there should be the rustic games and rural sports so dear to the common people.
So accordingly on the eventful morning the bridal party wended their way through the forest to this sanctuary, which we had decorated for the occasion. As the party passed through the forest with light hearts and joyous, there were others to whom these nuptials had most tragic results. Secreted in the thicket and watching the party go by was one, to whom every note of the joyous bells rang out a knell. Secreted also in another part was one to whom this nuptial act was infamous, and basest treachery; and like a wild beast he waited for an opportunity to spring upon the pair, and with one more wild deed of revenge to accentuate his undying hatred towards the Norman usurper. Soon after the party passed on their way and came near to the Abbey gates, Ethel, muffled and disguised as a peasant woman, stepped from the thicket from which she had watched the party go by, and slowly followed them. But she had not proceeded very far, ere some movement in the thicket attracted her attention, and turning more attentively to observe, she espied Sigurd's stealthy figure gliding amongst the trees with his naked sword in his hand, and evidently dogging the footsteps of the bridal party. A few fleet footsteps brought her abreast of him.