Did he repent that he had refused life and Aescendune? No, he hated
the Normans with too profound a hatred.
Was he prepared to die? We are sorry to record that he shook off
every thought of the future. God had delivered the English into the
hands of the Normans--his father and mother had been good religious
people, and what had they got by it? If there was a God, why were
such cruelties allowed to exist unavenged? He and His saints must
be asleep. Such were the wicked thoughts which arose, as we grieve
to record, in poor Wilfred's mind.
But now heavy steps were heard ascending the stairs, and soon
Lanfranc, conducted by the Norman governor, entered the cell.
Against him Wilfred could not, in reason, feel the enmity he bore
to all others of Norman race; it was owing to his exertions, and to
those of Geoffrey of Coutances, that he was about to die as a
patriot, and not as a sacrilegious incendiary.
It was the object of this worthy prelate to save the soul, where he
had failed to save the body, and to direct the thoughts of the
condemned one to Him, who Himself hung like a criminal between
earth and heaven, that He might save all who would put their trust
in Him.
The great obstacle in Wilfred's mind was his inability to forgive.
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