He then discovered the whole
matter to Elfrida; and begged her, if she had any regard either to her
own honor or his life, to conceal from Edgar, by every circumstance
of dress and behavior, that fatal beauty which had seduced him from
fidelity to his friend, and had betrayed him into so many falsehoods.
Elfrida promised compliance, though nothing was farther from her
intentions. She deemed herself little beholden to Athelwold for a
passion which had deprived her of a crown; and knowing the force of her
own charms, she did not despair, even yet, of reaching that dignity, of
which her husband's artifice had bereaved her. She appeared before the
king with all the advantages which the richest attire, and the most
engaging airs, could bestow upon her, and she excited at once in his
bosom the highest love towards herself, and the most furious desire of
revenge against her husband. He knew, however, how to dissemble these
passions; and seducing Athelwold into a wood, on pretence of hunting,
he stabbed him with his own hand, and soon after publicly espoused
Elfrida.[*]
[* W. Malms, lib. ii. cap. 8. Hoveden, p. 426. Brompton, p.
865, 866.
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