‘She has given me nothing! Nothing! My country may have benefited. But I have had nothing!’
‘That’s not true.’
‘What do you know of it! Have you stood day after day beside the most beautiful woman in the world, given you by God in holy matrimony, and known that you can never touch her? Never!’
Wilfrid was silent. He too had felt the power of Etheldreda’s beauty.
‘I cannot help you, my lord,’ he said sadly. ‘Cannot. Not will not.’
Egfrid caught the finality in his voice and sat down on a bench, slumped in despair, all fire gone out of him. He laid his head upon his arms on the long table and sobbed.
Wilfrid stood helplessly beside him. He knew this was the time, as bishop, he should have drawn Egfrid’s mind to higher matters, but, as man, he could not. He shared too many feelings with
