Ailred to be, a few years after, in the case of the nun
of Watton, to be read in Gale's "Scriptores Anglicaniae." Then he showed
the letter to Alftruda.
And she laughed one of her laughs, and said, "I have her at last!"
Then, as it befell, he was forced to shew the letter to Queen Matilda; and
she wept over it human tears, such as she, the noble heart, had been
forced to keep many a time before, and said, "The poor soul!--You,
Alftruda, woman! does Hereward know of this?"
"No, madam," said Alftruda, not adding that she had taken good care that
he should not know.
"It is the best thing which I have heard of him. I should tell him, were
it not that I must not meddle with my lord's plans. God grant him a good
delivery, as they say of the poor souls in jail. Well, madam, you have
your will at last. God give you grace thereof, for you have not given Him
much chance as yet."
"Your majesty will honor us by coming to the wedding?" asked Alftruda,
utterly unabashed.
Matilda the good looked at her with a face of such calm, childlike
astonishment, that Alftruda dropped her "fairy neck" at last, and slunk
out of the presence like a beaten cur.
William went to the wedding; and swore horrible oaths that they were the
handsomest pair he had ever seen. And so Hereward married Alftruda.
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