Githa, Earl Godwin's wife, sate in her chamber, and her heart was sad.

In the room was one of her sons, the one dearer to her than all, Wolnoth, her darling.

For the rest of her sons were stalwart and strong of frame, and in their infancy she had known not a mother's fears.

But Wolnoth had come into the world before his time, and sharp had been the travail of the mother, and long between life and death the struggle of the newborn babe.

And his cradle had been rocked with a trembling knee, and his pillow been bathed with hot tears.