She therefore determined to meet him at a distance. She
had arranged that upon the following day she would give out that she
intended to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Dunstan, which lay at
the edge of the forest, to thank him for her recovery from illness, and
to pray for the safety of her son. She would be carried thither in a
litter, and her journey would excite no comment whatever. She would take
with her four of her most trusted retainers, and would on her arrival at
the shrine send them to a distance, in order to pay her devotions
undisturbed. Cuthbert was to be near, and the moment he saw them depart,
to enter.
This arrangement was carried out, and the joy of Dame Editha at again
meeting her son was deep indeed. He had left her a lad of fifteen. He
now returned a youth of nearly eighteen, stout and strong beyond his
age, and looking far older than he was, from the effect of the hot sun
of Syria and of the hardships through which he had gone. That he should
win his spurs upon the first opportunity the earl had promised her, and
she doubted not that he would soon attain the rank which his father had
held.
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