There could be no thought of bribes now.

So I took it, and was glad thereof, for I could not ask my people for rents and dues yet.
Elfric asked me of Uldra, as one might suppose, and was glad when he heard of her welfare.
"I suppose that when I get back to Medehamstede her folk will want to know how she fares in Normandy, or the like.

Maybe they have troubled the good abbess already more than enough, for she brought her to me." "Whose daughter was she ?" I asked.
"Maybe I heard, but I have forgotten," he said.

"The abbess knows.
I saw not her folk, for the sisters brought her with them with my consent." So I went back to Bures well content with all but one thing, and that was what troubled me more than enough.

But I knew not that to my dying day I shall rejoice that I kept my troth to Hertha.
It was on one of those wondrous days that come in October, with glory of sunshine and clear sky over gold and crimson of forest and copse, that I learnt this.
I would go to Wormingford now and then to see that all was going well with the rebuilding of Hertha's home, for Cnut's gift was enough for that also, seeing that all one needed was at hand and did but require setting up by skilled workers.