When King Alla got back from his war with the Scots and heard how
Constance had been sent away, he was very angry; but when he questioned
and found the letter which had been sent him was false, and that
Constance had borne him a beautiful boy, he knew not what to think.
When the governor showed him the letter with his own seal which
directed that his wife and child should be sent away, he knew there was
some hidden wickedness in all this. He forced the messenger to tell
where he had carried the letters, and he confessed he had slept two
nights at the castle of Donegilde.
So it all came out, and the king, in a passion of rage, slew his
mother, and then shut himself up in his castle to give way to grief.
After a time he began to repent his deed, because he remembered it was
contrary to the gentle teachings of the faith Constance had taught him.
In his penitence he resolved to go to Rome on a pilgrimage to atone for
his sin. So in his pilgrim dress he set out for the great empire.
Now when it was heard in Rome that the great Alla from the North-land
had come thither on a Christian pilgrimage, all the noble Romans vied
to do him honor.
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