The Earl hath sent to me to say, that he will put honour and life in my keeping, and abide by my counsel.

And I have answered as became the man who will never snare a foe, or betray a trust." "How hast thou answered ?" asked the King.
"That he abide by the laws of England; as Dane and Saxon agreed to abide in the days of Canute; that he and his sons shall make no claim for land or lordship, but submit all to the Witan." "Good," said the King; "and the Witan will condemn him now, as it would have condemned when he shunned to meet it." "And the Witan now," returned the Earl emphatically, "will be free, and fair, and just." "And meanwhile, the troops----" "Will wait on either side; and if reason fail, then the sword," said Siward.
"This I will not hear," exclaimed Edward; when the tramp of many feet thundered along the passage; the door was flung open, and several captains (Norman as well as Saxon) of the King's troops rushed in, wild, rude, and tumultuous.
"The troops desert! half the ranks have thrown down their arms at the very name of Harold!" exclaimed the Earl of Hereford.

"Curses on the knaves!" "And the lithsmen of London," cried a Saxon thegn, "are all on his side, and marching already through the gates." "Pause yet," whispered Stigand; "and who shall say, this hour to-morrow, if Edward or Godwin reign on the throne of Alfred ?" His stern heart moved by the distress of his King, and not the less for the unwonted firmness which Edward displayed, Siward here approached, knelt, and took the King's hand.
"Siward can give no niddering counsel to his King; to save the blood of his subjects is never a king's disgrace.

Yield thou to mercy, Godwin to the law!" "Oh for the cowl and cell!" exclaimed the Prince, wringing his hands.

"Oh Norman home, why did I leave thee ?" He took the cross from his breast, contemplated it fixedly, prayed silently but with fervour, and his face again became tranquil.
"Go," he said, flinging himself on his seat in the exhaustion that follows passion, "go, Siward, go, Stigand, deal with things mundane as ye will." The bishop, satisfied with this reluctant acquiescence, seized Siward by the arm and withdrew him from the closet.