The outlaw, for such he was, ceased to importune him at this plaintive cry; then like a man who takes a sudden resolution, stepped aside, and Osric passed on. When he reached home he half expected to find a messenger from Wallingford chiding his delay; then he sat a brief while as one who hardly knows what to do, while old Judith brought him a savoury stew, and bade him eat. Several times she looked at him, like one who is burning to tell a secret, then pursed up her lips, as if she were striving to repress a strong inclination to speak.
"Judith," he said, "I may stay here no longer."
"What shall I say when the Lord of Wallingford sends for thee?"
"I could tell thee all that thou wilt learn at Dorchester."
"I may not. I swore on the Gospels I would not tell the secret to thy"--she paused--"to Wulfnoth."
"Yes; and one thou dost not, canst not, suspect; but, I think, didst thou know it, thou wouldst at once return to Wallingford Castle."
"Wouldst have me forsworn? No; seek thy _father_." She emphasised the word, and then added, "Ask him to let me tell thee the whole truth, if he will not do so himself; then return and learn more than thy dead grandfather has told thee, or could have told thee, for he knew not the truth."
"Judith, I will seek my father, and return at once after I have seen him."
Osric rose; put on his tunic over a coat of light chain mail; girded his sword to his side; put on a leathern cap, padded inside with steel, for in those days prudent men never travelled unarmed; then he bade Judith farewell, and started for Dorchester, making for the Synodune Hills, beyond which well-known landmarks Dorchester lay, and beneath the hills was a ford across the Thames.
He had not gone far--not half a mile--when he heard a rustling of the branches beyond the brook, and a stern voice cried--
"Good men and true, and thou art our prisoner."
"Wilt thou yield thyself unharmed, on the pledge that no harm is intended thee?"
"I will not. I know thee, Thorold: I seek Dorchester and my father."
"Thou wilt hardly reach it or him to-day. Stand, I say, or we must take thee by force."
"No man shall make me go with him against my will," cried Osric, and drew his sword.
Thorold laughed and clapped his hands. Quick as thought five or six men dashed from the covers which had hidden them in all directions. Osric drew his sword, but before he could wield it against a foe who met him face to face, another mastered his arms from behind, and he was a prisoner.