--Look thou, here is Wulfnoth!
I leave thee to thy talk with him alone;
How wan, poor lad! how sick and sad for home!
[_Exit_ MALET.
HAROLD (_muttering_).
Go not to Normandy--go not to Normandy!
_Enter_ WULFNOTH.
Poor brother! still a hostage!
WULFNOTH. Yea, and I
Shall see the dewy kiss of dawn no more
Make blush the maiden-white of our tall cliffs,
Nor mark the sea-bird rouse himself and hover
Above the windy ripple, and fill the sky
With free sea-laughter--never--save indeed
Thou canst make yield this iron-mooded Duke
To let me go.
HAROLD. Why, brother, so he will;
But on conditions. Canst thou guess at them?
WULFNOTH. Draw nearer,--I was in the corridor,
I saw him coming with his brother Odo
The Bayeux bishop, and I hid myself.
HAROLD. They did thee wrong who made thee hostage; thou
Wast ever fearful.
WULFNOTH. And he spoke--I heard him--
'This Harold is not of the royal blood,
Can have no right to the crown,' and Odo said,
'Thine is the right, for thine the might; he is here,
And yonder is thy keep.'
HAROLD. No, Wulfnoth, no.
WULFNOTH. And William laugh'd and swore that might was right,
Far as he knew in this poor world of ours--
'Marry, the Saints must go 'along with us,
And, brother, we will find a way,' said he--
Yea, yea, he would be king of England.
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