“My sister?” The young man stared at her for a moment, and then exclaimed: “I feel it! I know it!” and he embraced her rapturously.
“We thought thee dead!” cried Egwina, through her tears. “We knew not that thou wert spared by the Danes. Granther grieved for thee always. My brother! my brother!”
“And thou art Egwina, my own little sister!” Siegbert touched her gently, a glad light shining in his grave, beautiful eyes. “Said not Hilda that we looked alike! I thought that thou and our grandsire likewise were slain, because I knew the Northmen had overrun the country. I thought never to see thee again, sister.” He lingered lovingly over the last word, as though it were sweet to him. “Now is my search ended before it hath begun. But tell me of my grandfather and of thyself. How it hath fared with thee these many years.”
Egwina told him of their wanderings, and of Wulfhere’s death. Siegbert’s eyes flashed proudly at the manner of it.
“I grieve not for him,” he said. “Glorious was his end! So may I die—with front to foe in defense of my country! Say on, sister.”
Egwina told all. The life in the forest at the cottage of Denewulf; Athelney, the palace and Edward’s love; of Gyda and the ordeal, and finally how she came to be there at Anlaf’s.
Siegbert turned to her, an anxious expression on his face.
“Not now, Egwina, wilt thou seek the cloister, wilt thou? Thy brother cannot give thee up, now that he hath found thee.”
“Dear brother, never will I leave thee unless thou sendest me from thee,” said Egwina, kissing him. “We will go to the king, and thou shalt enter his service, and learn of his wisdom. I have eaten of the king’s bread, and for my sake, will he aid thee. And not only for my sake, but because thou art a Saxon.”
“Nay, my sister. We will go not to the king. Sometime in the future mayhap, when Edward hath taken another to himself, but not now. We will go to London, an’ it please thee, sister. There thou and I shall dwell together, and hard will it go with us, if thy brother doth not gain thegn’s rank for thy sweet sake.”