But how enjoyable the sport was, how sweet to breathe the bright pure
air of that May day; how grand to outstrip the wind over the yielding
turf, and at last to carry home the trophies of their prowess; the scalp
of the wolf, the tusks of the boar, leaving the serfs to bring in the
succulent flesh of the latter, while the hawks and crows fed upon the
former.
And then with what appetite they sat down to their "noon meat," taken,
however, at the late hour of three, after which they wandered down to
the river and angled for the trout which abounded in the clear stream.
The youthful reader will not wonder that such attractions sufficed to
detain Edwy several days, during which he was continually hunting in the
adjacent forests, always attended by Elfric, and sometimes by Alfred. To
the elder brother he seemed to have conceived a real liking, and
expressed great reluctance to part with him.
"Could you not return with me to court," he said, "and relieve the
tedium of old Dunstan's society? You cannot think what pleasures London
affords; it is life there indeed--it is true there are no forests like
these, but then, in the winter, when the country is so dreary, the town
is the place."
"My father will never consent to my leaving home," returned Elfric, who
inwardly felt his heart was with the prince.
"We might overcome that. I am to have a page. You might be nominally my
page, really my companion; and should I ever be king, you would find you
had not served me in vain.
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