Page:Stories from Old English Poetry-1899.djvu/260

236 dreadful in the freshness of its commission that they dared not look into each other’s eyes lest each should read condemnation and horror of the other’s deeds, they retired to their apartment to cleanse themselves of the blood upon their hands and weapons, and await the event of this night's work.

In the early morning the castle was filled with confusion and alarm. Macduff was the first to discover the murder, and frenzied with horror, he roused servants, guests, and kinsmen, from their beds. All was dismay and terror, and in the tumult, Malcolm and Donalbain, fearing treachery for themselves, fled instantly. Too weak to await what fate might bring them, they hastened to England, and drew suspicion on themselves by their flight, that they had been guilty of their father’s murder. Barquo may have suspected his noble friend Macbeth, but he was silent, and made no confidant of their encounter with the witches; and in a short time, by reason of his near kinship with the dead monarch, as well as his popularity with the soldiers and populace, Macbeth easily made himself king. Thus the witches’ prophecy was fulfilled.

But the crown thus gained did not sit easily on the wearer’s head. Beside, those secret midnight hags upon the heath of Forres had declared that Banquo’s children should be kings. And