The day which Ermengarde had predicted was close at hand. An
infectious fever broke out in the college, which, in several instances,
proved fatal to those who were attacked by it, and spread such terror
throughout the college that when Prince Edwin fell sick he was forsaken
by almost every living creature. His faithful page, Wilfrid, however,
watched him day and night, and supplied him with drink and nourishment,
which were brought to him by the widow Ermengarde.
For six days the young Atheling was insensible of everything but his
own sufferings, and gave no indications of consciousness. On the night
of the seventh, as Wilfrid was supporting upon his bosom the head of
his afflicted master, and holding a cup of cooling drink to his parched
lips, he murmured, "Is it you, my faithful Brithric?"
"No," replied the page, "Brithric is not present, neither hath he
entered this chamber, my lord, since the term of your sore sickness
commenced."
"Surely, then, he must himself be sick, perhaps dead," said the prince.
"No," replied Wilfrid, with a smile; "he is only fearful of exposing
himself to the contagion of the fever."
"Who, then, hath nursed and attended upon me so kindly during these
many days of suffering while I have lain here unconscious of everything
around me?"
"Your servant Wilfrid," replied the page.
"And where then are my chamberlains and attendants, by whom I ought to
be surrounded?" asked the prince, raising his languid head from the
bosom of Wilfrid, and looking round the spacious but deserted room of
state, in which he lay.
"They are all overcome by the terrors of the contagion," said Wilfrid.
"And why did you not flee from it also, Wilfrid?" asked the prince.
"Because, my lord," said Wilfrid, "I knew that you must perish if I
abandoned you."
"Ah! Wilfrid," said the prince, bursting into tears, "I deserve not
this goodness from you, for of late I have treated you very unkindly; I
know and feel that I have: can you forgive me?"
"Think no more of it, my lord, I pray you," replied Wilfrid, pressing
the burning hand of the prince to his lips. "I freely forgive all that
has passed, and only wish you to remember it, whenever you feel
disposed to yield to the impulses of a defective temper, which, for
your own sake, rather than mine, I earnestly hope you will correct."
Prince Edwin bowed his face on the bosom of his faithful page, and wept
long and passionately, promising, at the same time, amendment of his
faults if ever it should please his Heavenly Father to raise him up
from the bed of sickness on which he then lay.
How careful should young people be to perform the resolutions of
correcting their evil habits which they make at moments when sickness
or adversity brings them to a recollection of their evil propensities.
Yet, alas! how often is it that such promises are forgotten, as soon as
they find themselves in a condition to repeat their faults.
Thus it was with Prince Edwin. Instead of seeking the assistance of a
higher power than his own weak will to strengthen and support him in
the right path, he contented himself with saying, "I am determined to
begin a fresh course; to correct my hasty, imperious temper; to pursue
my studies steadily and perseveringly; and to shun the society of those
who, by flattery and false speaking, seek to increase my foolish
vanity, and impede my improvement!"
Now it was easy to say all this, but very difficult to put these good
resolutions into practice. Prince Edwin, neglecting to implore the
Divine aid to strengthen him in their performance, soon yielded to
temptation, and in a little time, listened to the pernicious flatteries
of Brithric with as much pleasure as he had done before the period of
his sickness.
It was to no purpose that the faithful Wilfrid remonstrated with him,
and pointed out the fatal consequences that result from listening to
the false commendations of those who pay no regard to truth. Prince
Edwin loved to hear himself praised, even for those very qualities in
which he was most deficient. He grew weary of Wilfrid's admonitions,
and frequently reproved him when he ventured to reason with him, or
attempted to offer the counsel of a true friend.
Brithric was, as I said before, much older than the prince or any of
the royal wards. He was artful and ambitious, and had formed in his
heart a wicked project for his own advancement, which was too likely to
plunge the country into the horrors of a civil war. This project was
no less than that of attempting to induce Prince Edwin to set himself
up for king, and to claim the throne as the eldest legitimate son of
the late King Edward.
In all this, Brithric was very ungrateful to King Athelstane, who had
been very kind to him, and had recently appointed him to the honorable
office of his cup-bearer. That employment, however, was not sufficient
to content Brithric, who perceived that King Athelstane was too wise a
prince to listen to artful flattery or to allow any person of his court
to obtain an undue influence over his mind.
"Ah!" said Brithric to himself, "if Edwin were king, I should be his
chief favorite. Wealth and honors would be at my disposal; and as he
believes everything I say to him I should be able to govern him, and
persuade him to do whatever I wished."
Brithric had soon an opportunity of introducing this treasonable
project to Prince Edwin; for King Athelstane sent him with a letter to
the head of the college; and as soon as he had delivered it he paid a
visit to Prince Edwin, whom he found in his own chamber, engaged with
Wilfrid in brightening his arrows.
"So, Brithric," said the prince, "do you bring me an invitation to the
court of the king, my brother?"
Brithric shook his head, and replied, "No, my prince; King Athelstane
has no wish to see you there. Take my word for it, he will never give
you an invitation to his court."
"Why not?" asked Prince Edwin, reddening with sudden anger.
"King Athelstane knows that you have a better title to the throne than
himself," replied Brithric. "He knows, also, that were his valiant
Thames and Ealdormen to see you, they would be very likely to make you
king; for you are possessed of far more princely qualities than the
base-born Athelstane."
The eyes of Prince Edwin brightened at the words of Brithric, and he
grasped the arrow which he had in his hand with the air of one who
holds a sceptre. "Fie, Brithric," said Wilfrid, "how can you be so
treacherous to your royal master as to speak of him with such
disrespect, and to put such dangerous and criminal ideas into the mind
of Prince Edwin?"
"Peace, meddling brat," cried Edwin, angrily; "who asked counsel of
thee in this matter?"
"There are some things which it would be a crime to hear in silence,"
replied Wilfrid; "and I implore you, my dear, dear lord, by all the
love that once united you and your faithful page in the bonds of
friendship, not to listen to the fatal suggestions of the false
Brithric."
"False Brithric!" echoed the wily tempter; "I will prove myself the
true friend of the Atheling, if he will only give consent to the deed
by which I will make him this very day the lord of England."
"Impossible," cried the prince; "you have no power to raise me to the
throne of my father Edward, albeit it is my lawful inheritance."
"The usurper Athelstane knows that full well," observed Brithric.
"Therefore it is that you are kept here, like a bird in a cage, leading
a life of monkish seclusion in an obscure college, instead of learning
to wield the battleaxe, to hurl the spear, and rein the war-horse, like
a royal Saxon prince."
"The wily tyrant shall find that Edwin the Atheling is not to be so
treated," exclaimed the prince, yielding to a burst of passion.
"You have no remedy, my lord," said Brithric; "for the people love the
usurper, and know nothing of his imprisoned brother, Edwin, the
rightful king of England."
"And shall I always be immured, like a captived thrush?" asked Edwin,
indignantly.
"Yes, while Athelstane lives, you must expect no other fate," said
Brithric. "But what if Athelstane should die?" continued he, fixing
his eyes on the face of the prince.
"Oh! hear him not, my lord," cried Wilfrid, flinging himself at the
Atheling's feet; "he would tempt you to a crime as deadly as that of
Cain."
"Peace, son of Cendric, the traitor!" exclaimed Prince Edwin, leveling
at the same time a blow at his faithful page, which felled him to the
earth, where he lay covered with blood, and apparently without sense or
motion.
"And now speak on, my loving Brithric," continued the Atheling, without
paying the slightest regard to the condition of poor Wilfrid, who was,
however, perfectly aware of all that was passing, though, to all
appearance, insensible.
"My lord," said Brithric, drawing nearer to the Atheling, "I will now
speak plainly. I am the cup-bearer of King Athelstane, and the next
time I present the red wine to him at the banquet it shall be drugged
with such a draught as shall make Prince Edwin lord of England within
an hour after the usurper has swallowed it."
"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. Those
who had been most ready to flatter him were silent on this occasion,
for they perceived that King Athelstane was persuaded of his brother's
guilt; and some of them said, "They remembered that Prince Edwin had
often said that he had a better title to the throne than King
Athelstane."
Prince Edwin could not deny that he had used these words; but it seemed
to him very hard that they should be repeated to the king in the hour
of his sore distress. Looking around, with a countenance expressive of
mingled sorrow and indignation, he said,--
"Unhappy that I am! they that were my most familiar friends are they
that speak against me! Is there no one that can bear me witness that I
am guiltless of the crime of plotting to take away my brother's life?"
"I will, though I die for it!" cried a voice, feeble from bodily
suffering, but firm in the courageous utterance of truth. It was that
of Wilfrid, the page, who, with his countenance still pale and
disfigured from the effects of the blow received from Prince Edwin,
stood boldly forward to bear witness of the scene which had taken place
in his presence between Brithric and the prince.
"Oh, Wilfrid, generous Wilfrid," cried Edwin, bursting into tears, "how
nobly do you fulfill the precepts of your heavenly Master by returning
good for evil!"
Now Athelstane had been so deeply prejudiced against his unfortunate
brother by the wicked Brithric, that he would not listen to Wilfrid's
honest evidence. When, therefore, he heard that he was the son of the
traitor Cendric, who had been so deeply implicated in Alfred's plot, he
was so unjust as to believe all that Brithric said against him.
Accordingly, he took Wilfrid, as well as the young Atheling, and
carried them prisoners to London. He there put them on board a ship
that was lying in the river Thames, and when night came, set sail with
them and went out to sea.