Harold for their king, and crowned him on the morrow . With hound and horn Duke William was starting for the chase when these strange tidings reached him . He left the noisy throng, and passed into his great hall, alone, to ponder over what had been , and that which was to be. The man who had sworn on good and holy relics to aid him to the throne; the brave preserver of his life, whom he himself had knighted on the battle-plain , and to whom his daughter was betrothed, must henceforth be his mortal foe ; must be branded as a perjured traitor in every court of Christendom ; must be pursued to the death , even where he stood most secure. Yet even the bold Harold might blench before the awful power of Rome.
But Harold was framed of different mould . The oath forced upon him by his host -- that host who owed to him his life, he felt it no dishonour to break, and thought it " foul scorn " to submit to an Italian priest. " What earthly name to interrogatories Can task the free breath of a sacred king ?" His stout heart quailed not before the consecrated white banner of the Pope, nor one of the hairs of St. Peter set in a precious ring. All through that spring and summer in northern France was heard the busy din of warlike preparation . From Flanders many a goodly ship came forth , and ships by hundreds were constructed at every point where timber could be found, till twice a thousand barks were moored in -
