Contrary to his usual custom, the hound showed no ill-feeling to Ethne, in spite of her treatment of him; and stretched himself on the ground beside her, although she tried to beat him off. When she rose to leave the room he still hung about her; when her women would have driven him away he snarled and bit at them savagely. He had been seeking for Elgiva and, unable to find her, was determined to remain by Ethne’s side, where he hoped his mistress would, sooner or later, return. There was no time for delay; the candle-bearers stood waiting outside the door--for Ethne, doing all things in royal state, had ordered that a great candle, six feet in height, should precede her in the procession. She knew that all was in readiness. The hall of the feast was swept, and garnished, and sprinkled with vervain-water; ivy wreaths to ward off the effects of drinking were ready for each feaster. The door opened, the great candle shed its rays on her, the procession waited--she rose and followed. She glanced exulting over the scene as she sank into her seat of honour. The leaders of the party, both Briton and Saxon, occupied an elevated position; the dishes and plates from which they ate were of pure gold; all fashioned, as Roman taste had demanded, from ancient and beautiful Greek models. The stage on which they sat had once been an upper chamber of the Roman villa, but its walls had suffered in the Saxon destruction, and it now stood open to the halls and courts below. From her position Ethne had a view of much of the great banquet she had prepared. The half-ruined mansion had lent itself readily to her purpose. In their ravages the heathen had thrown down so many of the walls that the lower rooms and halls formed, with the outer courts, an almost continuous apartment; in many places there was no roof at all, but this proved an advantage in the eyes of the rude chieftains on either side; in the open air they found greater space for the hounds and body-slaves it was their pleasure should attend them. Clad in skins of goat and sheep, hot with mead and gluttony, the warriors gave no thought to autumn gust and passing raindrop; and cared not that wasp and bee mingled with the viands before them. Ethne’s eye travelled proudly over the scene before her. To her feet the throng of feasters swept; and on through broken courts and halls--branching off here and there to fill unseen side-aisles--and on again to the great opening arch where their figures showed clear against the distant dusk of the forest. A mighty feast even in those days. Where it overflowed into the outer air it gained a fringe of slaves, with here and there a favourite horse called by his master to partake of Roman pulse or oaten cake; to the uproar would be added the shrill neigh of some Hibernian racer, or the deep note of a Saxon war-horse.