And truly it will in all respects be a good thing for your
tenants. Although the duke, or I suppose I ought to say the king, promises
greatly at present, there is no saying what he may do later on; and he has
all these locusts to provide for. 'Tis well indeed, then, that there should
be a Norman lady as well as an English thane at Steyning."
Wulf's return home gave rise to demonstrations of the greatest joy among
his tenants. They had heard nothing of him since the battle, and had deemed
him to have fallen with the rest of the defenders of the standard, and had
been living in fear of the arrival of some Norman baron to be their lord.
Wulf was greatly pleased to find that, although not one of his housecarls
had returned from Hastings, the greater portion of his irregular levies had
escaped at nightfall with the party who had inflicted so heavy a blow upon
their pursuers. For the next few days Wulf was thoroughly occupied. The
tenants of his new estates received him almost as joyfully as his own had
done, for, like them, they had expected the advent of a Norman master. In
one of the two estates that had fallen to him the thane he had succeeded
had left no heirs; while the other thane had left a widow and a young
family. Wulf arranged that these should remain in their home, receiving for
their maintenance half the rents of the estate.
Guy was greatly pleased with the fair country in which his sister's lot was
to be cast, but he owned frankly that the house seemed unworthy now of the
large estate, and was indeed but a poor place in comparison with the noble
chateau in which she had been brought up.
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