William addressed him:
"We have duly considered thy case, Wilfred of Aescendune, and fully
acquit thee of the guilt of sacrilege, while we also admit that
there were causes, which might go far to justify thy rebellion
against thy stepfather, and to mitigate the guilt of armed
resistance to thy king.
"We are not met to judge thy stepfather; he has been called to a
higher and an unerring tribunal, and there we leave him, satisfied
that the Judge of all the earth will do right.
"For thee--the guilt of rebellion and of bearing arms against thy
king for three whole years has to be expiated; but if thou art
willing to take the oath of allegiance on the spot, and bind
thyself to discharge the duties of a subject to his king, we will
consider thy case favourably, and perchance restore thee, under
certain conditions, to thy ancestral possessions. Speak, what
sayest thou--dost thou hesitate?"
Every eye was fixed on the prisoner.
He stood there, firm as a rock, and looked bravely into that face
whose frown so few could bear.
"My lord of Normandy," he said, "by birth I owe thee no allegiance,
and I cannot acknowledge that thy masterful and bloody conquest of
an unoffending people has given thee any right to demand it. I
cannot betray the cause for which my father bled and died, or ally
myself to my mother's murderers.
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