'Do not anger the duke,' he begged. 'You little know his determined will. You are alone, it is useless to resist; and he will find a means of putting you to silence if you oppose him.' Harold's young brother, Wulfnoth, came to him next 'Do not refuse to give the duke the promise he asks of you,' implored the boy with a pale face. 'I have seen their dungeons and the oubliettes--those dreadful underground cells where a man can scarcely stand upright, where he may spend years without ever seeing the light of day.--O Harold, the duke has sworn to imprison both you and me if you refuse to help him! Promise, Harold, promise; and when you are safe in England no one can make you hold to a promise which has been forced from you.' Harold passed the night in great perplexity. Should he refuse to make a promise which he knew that he could not keep? Then he and his young brother would be cast into these dreadful hiding-places; and they would never be heard of again. In years to come Englishmen might walk over the very turf under which they lay, and not know that beneath their feet the lost earls were still living, buried deep from the blessed sunshine, and the song of the birds, and the faces of their fellow-men. Would it be right of him to bring such a fate upon his brother? Then his native land; what would become of England while Harold lay in his dungeon? He knew that without his help the weak, gentle king was unable to govern. Then when Duke William came to demand the crown, and the English resisted him, as they were sure to do, there was no one save Harold to lead them to battle. He knew that he was the one man whom England needed at that time. Already he had been absent too long. Yet it was a terrible thing to make a promise which he did not intend to keep. Morning found Harold with his mind not made up. That day, William asked his guest to meet him in the great hall of the castle. An unexpected sight met the Englishman as he entered. The hall was filled with knights and barons, all waiting in silence. Beneath the great stained-glass window was the duke in his state robes, seated upon a throne, with a bishop on either side of him. In front of the throne stood a chest covered with cloth of gold, and upon the cover lay an open Bible. William was wearing his most grave and stony-hearted expression. 'Yesterday I told you that King Edward of England had left his crown to me,' he said. 'I ask you now, in presence of the barons and knights of my dukedom, to swear to support my just claim.' Harold looked at the Duke with a dark and angry face. William was taking a dishonourable advantage of him. 'Swear,' said the Norman knight, his friend, in his ear. 'If you do not, you will never see England again.' 'Swear, Harold,' whispered Wulfnoth; 'the oubliettes!' Harold was completely in the power of the Normans. With downcast eyes he laid his hand upon the Bible and repeated the words of the oath after the duke.