284 The Journey of Rheinfrid

himself: “Was it not a dream of sickness
which deceived me? An illusion of pain
and darkness? Why should I waste my
life within these walls?” But immediately
afterwards he was filled with remorse, and
confessed his thoughts to the Abbot.
“Fave faith and patience, my son,” said
Agelwyn. “Consider the many years God
waited for thee, and grew not impatient with
thy delay. When His good time comes thou
shalt of a certainty set out on thy journey.”
So for a while Rheinfrid ceased to repine,

and served faithfully in the Abbey.

In the years which followed, William the
Norman came into these parts and harried
whole shires on account of the rebels and
broken men who haunted the great roads
which ran through the Forest. Cheshire
and Shropshire, Stafford and Warwick were
wasted with fire and sword. And crowds
naked and starving — townsmen and churls,
men young and old, maidens and aged crones,
women with babes in their arms and little
ones at their knees—came straggling into
Eovesholme, fleeing most sorrowfully from
the misery of want.