Each in his own way fills well the place that is his, one as the counsellor and friend of plain folk like ourselves, winning the love and reverence of thane, and franklin, and thrall alike; and the other as the wisest in the land maybe, high in honour with all the highest in church and state.

Well have those two wrought, and we cannot do without their like, whether in village or court.
It is likely that Elfric will be archbishop ere long, and that will be well for us all.

So great is the name of Cnut the king that hereafter it will be that all that was wrought of wisdom in his time will be laid to his account; but he would not have it so, for he knows what he owes to Elfric.

But also I think that the cruel deeds wrought by the jarls while he was yet but a child will be thought his work also, for men will forget how young he was when the crown came to him, seeing that in utmost loyalty the jarls spoke of him ever as commanding, as the old viking ways bade them.
But I who knew him almost from the first have seen how he hated these deeds, staying the hands of his chiefs as soon as he knew what his power was.

Therein wrought Emma the queen, whose pride taught him what his place was, sooner than might else have been.
Now I will say one last word of myself, who am happy--in wife, and children, and home.