So I think that all her life long she believed him to have fallen
fighting in the first line, where Osric was, with his face to the enemy;
for all men spoke well of the sheriff's valour that day, and none would
say more than I told her. Yet it may have been that the thane fought
well, unobserved, in that press, and there is perhaps little blame to
many who fly in a panic.
Now, that spoken of and passed over, she became more like her brave
self, and from that time on would speak cheerfully both to Wulfhere and
myself, as, the horses set in order again, we once more went on our
winding way, following our guide.
Glad was I when, just before sunset, we saw the woodland under which his
hut was set, and heard the vesper bell ringing far off from the village
church. Soon we were on hard ground again, and then I could show
Alswythe where I had played Grendel unwittingly, and point the way I had
wandered from Brent.
There we rested the horses, for we had yet two miles to go, and they
were weary with the long and heavy travelling of the fens. And Alswythe
would go into the hut, and there her maidens brought her food and wine,
and we stayed for half an hour.
Wulfhere and I looked out towards Bridgwater town, now seeming under the
very hills, in the last sunlight.
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