CHAPTER XXI--THE TRIAL OF EGWINA

Before the ealdorman of the shire, and the gerefa or reeve, was Egwina taken. It was the folk moot of the shire. The bishop should have been present, but he was attending the king at Windshore. Many were in attendance, and the maiden shrank from the curious eyes fixed upon her.

"In the Lord," said Edwy the gleeman, as he took the oath, "I accuse not the maiden neither for hate, nor art, nor unjust avarice, nor do I know anything more true, but so my mind said to me, and I myself tell for truth, that this maiden, called Egwina the Fair, is the thief of my harp."

"Thou art sure of this, Edwy?" asked the gerefa, Beornwulf, won by the sweet face of the maiden.

"Marry, am I not on my oath?" blustered the man. "Not only do I ween that the maiden took the harp, but I wot it."

"Declare then thy charge," said Beornwulf.

"The maiden did enter the hall but three days since at sunset," deposed Edwy. "She sang and well did she please my Lord Oswald. That ye may know that naught but love of justice, and the restoration of mine own property doth animate me, I will say that she sang well. Then did my lord call for more, and the maiden asked for my harp, but, being unwilling that the sunbeam of the gleeman should go from my hands, I loaned it not. My Lord Oswald then commanded that the maiden have the harp, and it was given her. She gave it me again. The next night she sang again at the glee. In the morning she went her way. Lo! when I would have accompanied my song with the instrument it was gone. We followed after the maiden, and found it with her. I have said."

He sat down. The statement was clear and direct. Egwina looked at the gerefa, and saw that he was impressed by the recital. Friendless and alone in the crowd she sat with none to believe in her innocence.

AElfric next took the oath, and deposed that the morning thereafter, the first night of which the harper spake, he had entered the hall. There sat the maiden, and in her hands was the harp of Edwy which she did finger with lingering touch. He had joined in the pursuit of the girl, and when they found her, behold the harp was in her hands. When he had made an end of speaking, he raised his right hand solemnly and said: "In the name of the almighty God! As I here stand in true witness, unbidden and unbought; so oversaw I it with mine eyes, and overheard it with mine ears what I have said."

The maiden raised her head and looked the fellow straight in the eye. AElfric quailed at that clear gaze, and in some confusion took his seat. Oswald the thegn then took the oath, and swore to the truth of what the other two had said, adding, that though he compassionated the maiden, he felt that he must deliver her to the doom of the land.

"Maiden," the gerefa turned to Egwina and his face was full of honest sorrow, "it mislikes me to believe that this is as these have sworn. Take now thine oath, and if thou canst say aught in rebuttal of what these have said, speak."

The maiden stood up, and proud was her port as she took the oath, and cried earnestly: "In the name of the Lord! I am innocent both in word and deed of this thing of which the gleeman accuses me."

"Child," said the gerefa, "perjure not thy soul. Thou art on oath."

"I know that I am on oath," said the maiden in a clear, steady voice. "I say again, my lord gerefa, I am innocent of this charge. 'Tis true, as Edwy hath said, that I did ask him for the harp. Sweeter is the voice of the singer with its music. It is the wish of all our craft to please, thus would I have enhanced my chance to delight others. True is it also, that AElfric found me alone in the hall trying the instrument. It lay on the seat of the gleeman, and it harmed none that I did try it. Then, my lord, and the truth do I speak as I tell thee, when I left the thegn's manor laden with generous gifts, there came one running after me, a bond-woman carrying the harp. 'This also hath my lord sent thee,' she cried. Wondering much that a lord should send as gift the property of another, I took it not, but spake of the matter. 'Question not the gifts of my lord but take them,' she said, thrusting it upon me. Before I could say aught else, she ran from me, and I was forced to proceed with the harp, wondering."

"Strange is thy tale, maiden." The gerefa spoke doubtingly. "Never, I ween, hath a lord been known to take from one to bestow on another. Strange, strange thy tale!"

"Yet methinks that there is the sound of truth in the maiden's words," spoke the ealdorman. "Prithee, my Lord Oswald, have thy bond-women brought that they may be spoken with, and we shall see how truly the maid doth speak."

Egwina looked at him gratefully. It was the first word that she had heard that evinced anything like faith in her innocence. A silence fell upon the people as the thegn sent for his bond-women, and as they waited their appearance some were there who, won by the beauty of the maiden, openly expressed a belief in her innocence. At last the gesiths of Oswald returned, and with them came the bond-women. Motioning them forward, the gerefa said to Egwina, "Maiden, as these pass before thee, say which was the one who gave thee the harp."

Egwina looked at the women as they passed. Finally, at the end of the line, there came one whom she regarded attentively.

"This, my lord gerefa," spake she, "is the one who gave it me."

The reeve called the woman to him and administered the oath.

"State, woman," said he, "when and where thou didst give the harp to the maiden."

The woman looked at him in surprise.

"Dread lord, I wot not thy meaning."

"Didst thou not follow after the maiden, and give her a harp?"

"Nay; I know not what thou meanest," declared the woman.

"Knowest thou not the maiden? Tell if thou hast even spoken with her."

"I saw the maiden in the hall of Oswald the thegn," deposed she. "For two nights and a day did she abide therein, and when there was wassail she sang for the glee. On the morning of the third day did she bid us good-by and wended her way hence; whither, my lord, I wot not. Neither wot I more of her."

"Dost thou know aught of the harp, and how the maid came by it?" demanded the ealdorman, moved by the look of despair on the maiden's face. "Take the instrument, and look at it. Declarest thou, woman, that thou hast never beheld it before?"

The woman took up the harp and looked at it closely.

"Many and oft are the times that I have seen it," she said, with an appearance of candor. "It is that of Edwy the gleeman."

"How knowest thou?"

"Once he did ask that I clean it for him. Here, my lord, is where by accident I scratched the wood when I had holpen him."

"And thou gavest it not to the maid?" The ealdorman was plainly disappointed.

"No, my lord," declared the woman positively. "Why should I give to the girl Edwy's harp?"

The gerefa turned to Egwina who, with pale face, listened to the woman's denial.

"Thou hearest what the woman hath deposed. Is there aught else that thou hast to say before thy doom be pronounced upon thee?"

Egwina was troubled. "I know not what to say," she said, despairingly. "The truth have I declared to thee, my lord--the truth, and naught but the truth. This is she who gave me the harp. Why she should gainsay the fact, I know not. But as my soul liveth, I declare to thee that I am innocent of this charge which hath been brought against me. It hath been borne in upon my mind that malice hath been at work, and that AElfric hath arranged the matter; that for vengeance sake he hath testified falsely, and wrought this evil."

"Maiden, no longer can we listen to thee. Receive the doom as thou knowest it to be," commanded the gerefa.

But the ealdorman cried, "Brother, are we not to administer justice? While still there is a doubt, suffer the girl to benefit by it. Let her declare cause why AElfric should wish to wreak vengeance upon her."

"Why should we listen?" returned the reeve, impatiently. "Hath she not been given a fair trial? One artifice--that of the woman--hath failed. Shall we try another? Marry, no!"

"Yet, still let us listen," requested the ealdorman. "Maiden," without waiting for the assent of the reeve he turned to Egwina, "thou hast not before seen AElfric the freed-man. Why, then, should this be his vengeance upon thee?"

"Oh, my lord, but I have seen him before!" cried Egwina, hope springing once more in her breast. Rapidly she recounted the circumstances.

"It may be as thou sayest," mused the ealdorman. "Brother, let us search into the matter as the maiden hath told."

"No;" the gerefa was full of impatience. "'Tis but a wile of the jade. Besides, hath it not been clearly shown that she hath stolen the harp? Arise, maiden, and hear thy doom. Too long now hast thou detained us. It hath been proved by witnesses, both unbought and unlying, that thou didst take from the manor of Oswald the thegn the harp of Edwy the gleeman. More hath also been shown. Not only didst thou steal the harp, but thou wert found with it in thy possession. Hear, then, the doom."

"But, my lord, I am innocent--innocent," interrupted Egwina, wildly. "By the Powers of Heaven, I swear to thee that I am innocent."

"Girl, darest thou to blaspheme?" cried the gerefa, recoiling from her. "Darest thou to call upon the Powers of Heaven?"

"Aye!" cried Egwina, springing to her feet. "And not only upon the Powers alone, but upon Him who ruleth over all as well. Sir Gerefa, a greater than thou shall be my judge. I commit my soul to God to attest its innocence. Sir, I demand the ordeal."