"
"Traitor, begone!" exclaimed the prince, filled with horror at this
dreadful proposal. "I would not stain my soul with the crime of
murder, if by such means I could obtain the empire of the world."
Brithric used many wicked arguments to induce Prince Edwin to consent
to the murder of his royal brother; but Edwin commanded him to leave
his presence, and never to presume to enter it again. The vile wretch,
however, alarmed lest the prince should inform the king of the crime he
had meditated against him, went to his royal master and accused the
Atheling of having endeavored to persuade him to mix poison in the wine
cup of his sovereign.
Athelstane, justly indignant at the crime laid to the charge of his
royal brother, came with a party of guards to the college. Here,
before his preceptors and all the royal wards, his companions, he
charged Edwin with having meditated the crime of treason and fratricide.
You may imagine the consternation of the prince on hearing this
dreadful accusation. It was to no purpose that he protested his
innocence, and called on all his faithful associates to witness for him
that he had never uttered an injurious thought against the king.
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