When we have paid the three taxes of fort-building and bridge-building and
field-service, we have paid all that we owe to the State."
At last they stood defined, the first of the feudal lords and the last of the
odal-born men. Even through the King's loftiness it was suddenly borne in
that, behind the insignificance of the revolt, loomed a mighty principle,
mighty enough to merit force. For the first time he stooped to a threat,
though still it was tinged with scorn.
"I observe that the men of your race have not been of great importance in the
land. It appears that Ethelred was able to do without the rebel Lord of
Ivarsdale."
"I admit that he was able to lose his crown without him," the rebel's son
retorted swiftly.
The King's wounded dignity bled in his cheeks; he was stung into a movement
that brought him to his feet.
"This is insufferable!" he cried. It was evident that the crisis had come.
While the Etheling faced him with a defiance that in its utter abandon was a
little mad, a sensation as of bracing muscles and setting teeth went around
the group. Several of the thanes laid their hands upon their swords. And the
half-dozen ealdormen present bent toward one another in hasty consultation. At
an almost imperceptible sign from the old cniht, the henchmen made a noiseless
step nearer their master. There were not more than a dozen of them, but behind
them loomed some two-score yeomen-soldiers, with a score more in the brush at
their back; and the faces of all told more plainly than words what it would
mean to attack them.
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