Puck of Pook's Hill Page 5

  YOUNG MEN AT THE MANOR

  They were fishing, a few days later, in the bed of the brook that forcenturies had cut deep into the soft valley soil. The trees closingoverhead made long tunnels through which the sunshine worked in blobs andpatches. Down in the tunnels were bars of sand and gravel, old roots andtrunks covered with moss or painted red by the irony water; foxglovesgrowing lean and pale towards the light; clumps of fern and thirsty shyflowers who could not live away from moisture and shade. In the pools youcould see the wave thrown up by the trouts as they charged hither and yon,and the pools were joined to each other--except in flood time, when all wasone brown rush--by sheets of thin broken water that poured themselveschuckling round the darkness of the next bend.

  This was one of the children's most secret hunting-grounds, and theirparticular friend, old Hobden the hedger, had shown them how to use it.Except for the click of a rod hitting a low willow, or a switch and tussleamong the young ash-leaves as a line hung up for the minute, nobody in thehot pasture could have guessed what game was going on among the troutsbelow the banks.

  'We's got half-a-dozen,' said Dan, after a warm, wet hour. 'I vote we goup to Stone Bay and try Long Pool.'

  Una nodded--most of her talk was by nods--and they crept from the gloom ofthe tunnels towards the tiny weir that turns the brook into themill-stream. Here the banks are low and bare, and the glare of theafternoon sun on the Long Pool below the weir makes your eyes ache.

  When they were in the open they nearly fell down with astonishment. A hugegrey horse, whose tail-hairs crinkled the glassy water, was drinking inthe pool, and the ripples about his muzzle flashed like melted gold. Onhis back sat an old, white-haired man dressed in a loose glimmery gown ofchain-mail. He was bareheaded, and a nut-shaped iron helmet hung at hissaddle-bow. His reins were of red leather five or six inches deep,scalloped at the edges, and his high padded saddle with its red girths washeld fore and aft by a red leather breastband and crupper.

  'Look!' said Una, as though Dan were not staring his very eyes out. 'It'slike the picture in your room--"Sir Isumbras at the Ford."'

  The rider turned towards them, and his thin, long face was just as sweetand gentle as that of the knight who carries the children in that picture.

  'They should be here now, Sir Richard,' said Puck's deep voice among thewillow-herb.

  'They are here,' the knight said, and he smiled at Dan with the string oftrouts in his hand. 'There seems no great change in boys since mine fishedthis water.'

  'If your horse has drunk, we shall be more at ease in the Ring,' saidPuck; and he nodded to the children as though he had never magicked awaytheir memories the week before.

  The great horse turned and hoisted himself into the pasture with a kickand a scramble that tore the clods down rattling.

  'Your pardon!' said Sir Richard to Dan. 'When these lands were mine, Inever loved that mounted men should cross the brook except by the pavedford. But my Swallow here was thirsty, and I wished to meet you.'

  'We're very glad you've come, sir,' said Dan. 'It doesn't matter in theleast about the banks.'

  He trotted across the pasture on the sword-side of the mighty horse, andit was a mighty iron-handled sword that swung from Sir Richard's belt. Unawalked behind with Puck. She remembered everything now.

  'I'm sorry about the Leaves,' he said, 'but it would never have done ifyou had gone home and told, would it?'

  'I s'pose not,' Una answered. 'But you said that all the fair--People ofthe Hills had left England.'

  'So they have; but I told you that you should come and go and look andknow, didn't I? The knight isn't a fairy. He's Sir Richard Dalyngridge, avery old friend of mine. He came over with William the Conqueror, and hewants to see you particularly.'

  'What for?' said Una.

  'On account of your great wisdom and learning,' Puck replied, without atwinkle.

  'Us?' said Una. 'Why, I don't know my Nine Times--not to say it dodging;and Dan makes the most _awful_ mess of fractions. He can't mean _us_!'

  'Una!' Dan called back. 'Sir Richard says he is going to tell whathappened to Weland's sword. He's got it. Isn't it splendid?'

  'Nay--nay,' said Sir Richard, dismounting as they reached the Ring, in thebend of the mill-stream bank. 'It is you that must tell me, for I hear theyoungest child in our England to-day is as wise as our wisest clerk.' Heslipped the bit out of Swallow's mouth, dropped the ruby-red reins overhis head, and the wise horse moved off to graze.

  Sir Richard (they noticed he limped a little) unslung his great sword.

  'That's it,' Dan whispered to Una.

  'This is the sword that Brother Hugh had from Wayland-Smith,' Sir Richardsaid. 'Once he gave it to me, but I would not take it; but at the last itbecame mine after such a fight as never christened man fought. See!' Hehalf drew it from its sheath and turned it before them. On either sidejust below the handle, where the Runic letters shivered as though theywere alive, were two deep gouges in the dull, deadly steel. 'Now, whatThing made those?' said he. 'I know not, but you, perhaps, can say.'

  'Tell them all the tale, Sir Richard,' said Puck. 'It concerns their landsomewhat.'

  'Yes, from the very beginning,' Una pleaded, for the knight's good faceand the smile on it more than ever reminded her of 'Sir Isumbras at theFord.'

  They settled down to listen, Sir Richard bare-headed to the sunshine,dandling the sword in both hands, while the grey horse cropped outside theRing, and the helmet on the saddle-bow clinged softly each time he jerkedhis head.

  'From the beginning, then,' Sir Richard said, 'since it concerns yourland, I will tell the tale. When our Duke came out of Normandy to take hisEngland, great knights (have ye heard?) came and strove hard to serve theDuke, because he promised them lands here, and small knights followed thegreat ones. My folk in Normandy were poor; but a great knight, Engerrardof the Eagle--Engenulf De Aquila--who was kin to my father, followed theEarl of Mortain, who followed William the Duke, and I followed De Aquila.Yes, with thirty men-at-arms out of my father's house and a new sword, Iset out to conquer England three days after I was made knight. I did notthen know that England would conquer me. We went up to Santlache with therest--a very great host of us.'

  'Does that mean the Battle of Hastings--Ten Sixty-Six?' Una whispered, andPuck nodded, so as not to interrupt.

  'At Santlache, over the hill yonder'--he pointed south-eastward towardsFairlight--'we found Harold's men. We fought. At the day's end they ran. Mymen went with De Aquila's to chase and plunder, and in that chaseEngerrard of the Eagle was slain, and his son Gilbert took his banner andhis men forward. This I did not know till after, for Swallow here was cutin the flank, so I stayed to wash the wound at a brook by a thorn. There asingle Saxon cried out to me in French, and we fought together. I shouldhave known his voice, but we fought together. For a long time neither hadany advantage, till by pure ill-fortune his foot slipped and his swordflew from his hand. Now I had but newly been made knight, and wished,above all, to be courteous and fameworthy, so I forebore to strike andbade him get his sword again. "A plague on my sword," said he. "It haslost me my first fight. You have spared my life. Take my sword." He heldit out to me, but as I stretched my hand the sword groaned like a strickenman, and I leaped back crying, "Sorcery!"

  [The children looked at the sword as though it might speak again.]

  'Suddenly a clump of Saxons ran out upon me and, seeing a Norman alone,would have killed me, but my Saxon cried out that I was his prisoner, andbeat them off. Thus, see you, he saved my life. He put me on my horse andled me through the woods ten long miles to this valley.'

  'To here, d'you mean?' said Una.

  'To this very valley. We came in by the Lower Ford under the King's Hillyonder'--he pointed eastward where the valley widens.

  'And was that Saxon Hugh the novice?' Dan asked.

  'Yes, and more than that. He had been for three years at the monastery atBec by Rouen, where'--Sir Richard chuckled--'the Abbot Herluin would notsuffer me to remain.'

  'Why wouldn't he?' said Dan.

  'Because I rode my horse into the refectory, when the scholars were atmeat, to show the Saxon boys we Normans were not afraid of an abbot. Itwas that very Saxon Hugh tempted me to do it, and we had not met sincethat day. I thought I knew his voice even inside my helmet, and, for allthat our Lords fought, we each rejoiced we had not slain the other. Hewalked by my side, and he told me how a Heathen God, as he believed, hadgiven him his sword, but he said he had never heard it sing before. Iremember I warned him to beware of sorcery and quick enchantments.' SirRichard smiled to himself. 'I was very young--very young!

  'When we came to his house here we had almost forgotten that we had beenat blows. It was near midnight, and the Great Hall was full of men andwomen waiting news. There I first saw his sister, the Lady AElueva, of whomhe had spoken to us in France. She cried out fiercely at me, and wouldhave had me hanged in that hour, but her brother said that I had sparedhis life--he said not how he saved mine from his Saxons--and that our Dukehad won the day; and even while they wrangled over my poor body, of asudden he fell down in a swoon from his wounds.

  '"This is _thy fault_," said the Lady AElueva to me, and she kneeled abovehim and called for wine and cloths.

  '"If I had known," I answered, "he should have ridden and I walked. But heset me on my horse; he made no complaint; he walked beside me and spokemerrily throughout. I pray I have done him no harm."

  '"Thou hast need to pray," she said, catching up her underlip. "If hedies, thou shalt hang!"

  'They bore off Hugh to his chamber; but three tall men of the house boundme and set me under the beam of the Great Hall with a rope round my neck.The end of the rope they flung over the beam, and they sat them down bythe fire to wait word whether Hugh lived or died. They cracked nuts withtheir knife-hilts the while.'

  'And how did you feel?' said Dan.

  'Very weary; but I did heartily pray for my schoolmate Hugh his health.About noon I heard horses in the valley, and the three men loosed my ropesand fled out, and De Aquila's men rode up. Gilbert de Aquila came withthem, for it was his boast that, like his father, he forgot no man thatserved him. He was little, like his father, but terrible, with a nose likean eagle's nose and yellow eyes like an eagle. He rode tallwar-horses--roans, which he bred himself--and he could never abide to behelped into the saddle. He saw the rope hanging from the beam and laughed,and his men laughed, for I was too stiff to rise.

  '"This is poor entertainment for a Norman knight," he said, "but, such asit is, let us be grateful. Show me, boy, to whom thou owest most, and wewill pay them out of hand."'

  'What did he mean? To kill 'em?' said Dan.

  'Assuredly. But I looked at the Lady AElueva where she stood among hermaids, and her brother beside her. De Aquila's men had driven them allinto the Great Hall.'

  'Was she pretty?' said Una.

  'In all my life I had never seen woman fit to strew rushes before my LadyAElueva,' the knight replied, quite simply and quietly. 'As I looked at herI thought I might save her and her house by a jest.

  '"Seeing that I came somewhat hastily and without warning," said I to DeAquila, "I have no fault to find with the courtesy that these Saxons haveshown me." But my voice shook. It is--it was not good to jest with thatlittle man.

  'All were silent awhile, till De Aquila laughed. "Look, men--a miracle!"said he. "The fight is scarce sped, my father is not yet buried, and herewe find our youngest knight already set down in his Manor, while hisSaxons--ye can see it in their fat faces--have paid him homage and service!By the Saints," he said, rubbing his nose, "I never thought England wouldbe so easy won! Surely I can do no less than give the lad what he hastaken. This Manor shall be thine, boy," he said, "till I come again, ortill thou art slain. Now, mount, men, and ride. We follow our Duke intoKent to make him King of England."

  'He drew me with him to the door while they brought his horse--a lean roan,taller than my Swallow here, but not so well girthed.

  '"Hark to me," he said, fretting with his great war-gloves. "I have giventhee this Manor, which is a Saxon hornets' nest, and I think thou wilt beslain in a month--as my father was slain. Yet if thou canst keep the roofon the hall, the thatch on the barn, and the plough in the furrow till Icome back, thou shalt hold the Manor from me; for the Duke has promisedour Earl Mortain all the lands by Pevensey, and Mortain will give me ofthem what he would have given my father. God knows if thou or I shall livetill England is won; but remember, boy, that here and now fighting isfoolishness and"--he reached for the reins--"craft and cunning is all."

  '"Alas, I have no cunning," said I.

  '"Not yet," said he, hopping abroad, foot in stirrup, and poking his horsein the belly with his toe. "Not yet, but I think thou hast a good teacher.Farewell! Hold the Manor and live. Lose the Manor and hang," he said, andspurred out, his shield-straps squeaking behind him.

  'So, children, here was I, little more than a boy, and Santlache fight nottwo days old, left alone with my thirty men-at-arms, in a land I knew not,among a people whose tongue I could not speak, to hold down the land whichI had taken from them.'

  'And that was here at home?' said Una.

  'Yes, here. See! From the Upper Ford, Weland's Ford, to the Lower Ford, bythe Belle Allee, west and east it ran half a league. From the Beacon ofBrunanburgh behind us here, south and north it ran a full league--and allthe woods were full of broken men from Santlache, Saxon thieves, Normanplunderers, robbers, and deerstealers. A hornets' nest indeed!

  'When De Aquila had gone, Hugh would have thanked me for saving theirlives; but Lady AElueva said that I had done it only for the sake ofreceiving the Manor.

  '"How could I know that De Aquila would give it me?" I said. "If I hadtold him I had spent my night in your halter he would have burned theplace twice over by now."

  '"If any man had put _my_ neck in a rope," she said, "I would have seenhis house burned thrice over before _I_ would have made terms."

  '"But it was a woman," I said; and I laughed and she wept and said that Imocked her in her captivity.

  '"Lady," said I, "there is no captive in this valley except one, and he isnot a Saxon."

  'At this she cried that I was a Norman thief, who came with false, sweetwords, having intended from the first to turn her out in the fields to begher bread. Into the fields! She had never seen the face of war!

  'I was angry, and answered, "This much at least I can disprove, for Iswear"--and on my sword-hilt I swore it in that place--"I swear I will neverset foot in the Great Hall till the Lady AElueva herself shall summon methere."

  'She went away, saying nothing, and I walked out, and Hugh limped afterme, whistling dolorously (that is a custom of the English), and we cameupon the three Saxons that had bound me. They were now bound by mymen-at-arms, and behind them stood some fifty stark and sullen churls ofthe House and the Manor, waiting to see what should fall. We heard DeAquila's trumpets blow thin through the woods Kentward.

  '"Shall we hang these?" said my men.

  '"Then my churls will fight," said Hugh, beneath his breath; but I badehim ask the three what mercy they hoped for.

  '"None," said they all. "She bade us hang thee if our master died. And wewould have hanged thee. There is no more to it."

  'As I stood doubting a woman ran down from the oak wood above the King'sHill yonder, and cried out that some Normans were driving off the swinethere.

  '"Norman or Saxon," said I, "we must beat them back, or they will rob usevery day. Out at them with any arms ye have!" So I loosed those threecarles and we ran together, my men-at-arms and the Saxons with bills andbows which they had hidden in the thatch of their huts, and Hugh led them.Half-way up the King's Hill we found a false fellow from Picardy--a sutlerthat sold wine in the Duke's camp--with a dead knight's shield on his arm,a stolen horse under him, and some ten or twelve wastrels at his tail, allcutting and slashing at the pigs. We beat them off, and saved our pork.One hundred and seventy pigs we saved in that great battle.' Sir Richardlaughed.

  'That, then, was our first work together, and I bade Hugh tell his folkthat so would I deal with any man, knight or churl, Norman or Saxon, whostole as much as one egg from our valley. Said he to me, riding home:"Thou hast gone far to conquer England this evening." I answered: "Englandmust be thine and mine, then. Help me, Hugh, to deal aright with thispeople. Make them to know that if they slay me De Aquila will surely sendto slay them, and he will put a worse man in my place." "That may well betrue," said he, and gave me his hand. "Better the devil we know than thedevil we know not, till we can pack you Normans home." And so, too, saidhis Saxons; and they laughed as we drove the pigs downhill. But I thinksome of them, even then, began not to hate me.'

  'I like Brother Hugh,' said Una, softly.

  'Beyond question he was the most perfect, courteous, valiant, tender, andwise knight that ever drew breath,' said Richard, caressing the sword. 'Hehung up his sword--this sword--on the wall of the Great Hall, because hesaid it was fairly mine, and never he took it down till De Aquilareturned, as I shall presently show. For three months his men and mineguarded the valley, till all robbers and nightwalkers learned there wasnothing to get from us save hard tack and a hanging. Side by side wefought against all who came--thrice a week sometimes we fought--againstthieves and landless knights looking for good manors. Then we were in somepeace, and I made shift by Hugh's help to govern the valley--for all thisvalley of yours was my Manor--as a knight should. I kept the roof on thehall and the thatch on the barn, but.... The English are a bold people.His Saxons would laugh and jest with Hugh, and Hugh with them, and--thiswas marvellous to me--if even the meanest of them said that such and such athing was the Custom of the Manor, then straightway would Hugh and suchold men of the Manor as might be near forsake everything else to debatethe matter--I have seen them stop the mill with the corn half ground--and ifthe custom or usage were proven to be as it was said, why, that was theend of it, even though it were flat against Hugh, his wish and command.Wonderful!'

  'Aye,' said Puck, breaking in for the first time. 'The Custom of OldEngland was here before your Norman knights came, and it outlasted them,though they fought against it cruel.'

  'Not I,' said Richard. 'I let the Saxons go their stubborn way, but whenmy own men-at-arms, Normans not six months in England, stood up and toldme what was the custom of the country, _then_ I was angry. Ah, good days!Ah, wonderful people! And I loved them all.'

  The knight lifted his arms as though he would hug the whole dear valley,and Swallow, hearing the chink of his chain-mail, looked up and whinniedsoftly.

  'At last,' he went on, 'after a year of striving and contriving and somelittle driving, De Aquila came to the valley, alone and without warning. Isaw him first at the Lower Ford, with a swine-herd's brat on hissaddle-bow.

  '"There is no need for thee to give any account of thy stewardship," saidhe. "I have it all from the child here." And he told me how the youngthing had stopped his tall horse at the Ford, by waving of a branch, andcrying that the way was barred. "And if one bold, bare babe be enough toguard the Ford in these days, thou hast done well," said he, and puffedand wiped his head.

  He pinched the child's cheek, and looked at our cattle in the flat by thebrook.

  '"Both fat," said he, rubbing his nose. "This is craft and cunning such asI love. What did I tell thee when I rode away, boy?"

  '"Hold the Manor or hang," said I. I had never forgotten it.

  '"True. And thou hast held." He clambered from his saddle and with sword'spoint cut out a turf from the bank and gave it me where I kneeled.'

  Dan looked at Una, and Una looked at Dan.

  'That's seizin,' said Puck, in a whisper.

  '"Now thou art lawfully seized of the Manor, Sir Richard," said he--'twasthe first time he ever called me that--"thou and thy heirs for ever. Thismust serve till the King's clerks write out thy title on a parchment.England is all ours--if we can hold it."

  '"What service shall I pay?" I asked, and I remember I was proud beyondwords.

  '"Knight's fee, boy, knight's fee!" said he, hopping round his horse onone foot. (Have I said he was little, and could not endure to be helped tohis saddle?) "Six mounted men or twelve archers thou shalt send mewhenever I call for them, and--where got you that corn?" said he, for itwas near harvest, and our corn stood well. "I have never seen such brightstraw. Send me three bags of the same seed yearly, and furthermore, inmemory of our last meeting--with the rope round thy neck--entertain me andmy men for two days of each year in the Great Hall of thy Manor."

  '"Alas!" said I, "then my Manor is already forfeit. I am under vow not toenter the Great Hall." And I told him what I had sworn to the LadyAElueva.'

  'And hadn't you ever been into the house since?' said Una.

  'Never,' Sir Richard answered smiling. 'I had made me a little hut of woodup the hill, and there I did justice and slept.... De Aquila wheeledaside, and his shield shook on his back. "No matter, boy," said he. "Iwill remit the homage for a year."'

  'He meant Sir Richard needn't give him dinner there the first year,' Puckexplained.

  'De Aquila stayed with me in the hut and Hugh, who could read and writeand cast accounts, showed him the roll of the Manor, in which were writtenall the names of our fields and men, and he asked a thousand questionstouching the land, the timber, the grazing, the mill, and the fish-ponds,and the worth of every man in the valley. But never he named the LadyAElueva's name, nor went he near the Great Hall. By night he drank with usin the hut. Yes, he sat on the straw like an eagle ruffled in herfeathers, his yellow eyes rolling above the cup, and he pounced in histalk like an eagle, swooping from one thing to another, but always bindingfast. Yes; he would lie still awhile, and then rustle in the straw, andspeak sometimes as though he were King William himself, and anon he wouldspeak in parables and tales, and if at once we saw not his meaning hewould yerk us in the ribs with his scabbarded sword.

  '"Look you, boys," said he, "I am born out of my due time. Five hundredyears ago I would have made all England such an England as neither Dane,Saxon, nor Norman should have conquered. Five hundred years hence I shouldhave been such a councillor to Kings as the world hath never dreamed of.'Tis all here," said he, tapping his big head, "but it hath no play inthis black age. Now Hugh here is a better man than thou art, Richard." Hehad made his voice harsh and croaking, like a raven's.

  '"Truth," said I. "But for Hugh, his help and patience and long-suffering,I could never have kept the Manor."

  '"Nor thy life either," said De Aquila. "Hugh has saved thee not once, buta hundred times. Be still, Hugh!" he said. "Dost thou know, Richard, whyHugh slept, and why he still sleeps, among thy Norman men-at-arms?"

  '"To be near me," said I, for I thought this was truth.

  '"Fool!" said De Aquila. "It is because his Saxons have begged him to riseagainst thee, and to sweep every Norman out of the valley. No matter how Iknow. It is truth. Therefore Hugh hath made himself an hostage for thylife, well knowing that if any harm befell thee from his Saxons thyNormans would slay him without remedy. And this his Saxons know. It istrue, Hugh?"

  '"In some sort," said Hugh, shamefacedly; "at least, it was true half ayear ago. My Saxons would not harm Richard now. I think they know him; butI judged it best to make sure."

  'Look, children, what that man had done--and I had never guessed it! Nightafter night had he lain down among my men-at-arms, knowing that if oneSaxon had lifted knife against me his life would have answered for mine.

  '"Yes," said De Aquila. "And he is a swordless man." He pointed to Hugh'sbelt, for Hugh had put away his sword--did I tell you?--the day after itflew from his hand at Santlache. He carried only the short knife and thelong-bow. "Swordless and landless art thou, Hugh; and they call thee kinto Earl Godwin." (Hugh was indeed of Godwin's blood.) "The Manor that wasthine was given to this boy and to his children for ever. Sit up and beg,for he can turn thee out like a dog, Hugh!"

  'Hugh said nothing, but I heard his teeth grind, and I bade De Aquila, myown overlord, hold his peace, or I would stuff his words down his throat.Then De Aquila laughed till the tears ran down his face.

  '"I warned the King," said he, "what would come of giving England to usNorman thieves. Here art thou, Richard, less than two days confirmed inthy Manor, and already thou hast risen against thy overlord. What shall wedo to him, _Sir_ Hugh?"

  '"I am a swordless man," said Hugh. "Do not jest with me," and he laid hishead on his knees and groaned.

  '"The greater fool thou," said De Aquila, and all his voice changed; "forI have given thee the Manor of Dallington up the hill this half-hoursince," and he yerked at Hugh with his scabbard across the straw.

  '"To me?" said Hugh. "I am a Saxon, and, except that I love Richard here,I have not sworn fealty to any Norman."

  '"In God's good time, which because of my sins I shall not live to see,there will be neither Saxon nor Norman in England," said De Aquila. "If Iknow men, thou art more faithful unsworn than a score of Normans I couldname. Take Dallington, and join Sir Richard to fight me to-morrow, if itplease thee!"

  '"Nay," said Hugh. "I am no child. Where I take a gift, there I renderservice"; and he put his hands between De Aquila's, and swore to befaithful, and, as I remember, I kissed him, and De Aquila kissed us both.

  'We sat afterwards outside the hut while the sun rose, and De Aquilamarked our churls going to their work in the fields, and talked of holythings, and how we should govern our Manors in time to come, and ofhunting and of horse-breeding, and of the King's wisdom and unwisdom; forhe spoke to us as though we were in all sorts now his brothers. Anon achurl stole up to me--he was one of the three I had not hanged a yearago--and he bellowed--which is the Saxon for whispering--that the Lady AEluevawould speak to me at the Great House. She walked abroad daily in theManor, and it was her custom to send me word whither she went, that Imight set an archer or two behind and in front to guard her. Very often Imyself lay up in the woods and watched on her also.

  'I went swiftly, and as I passed the great door it opened from within, andthere stood my Lady AElueva, and she said to me: "Sir Richard, will itplease you enter your Great Hall?" Then she wept, but we were alone.'

  The knight was silent for a long time, his face turned across the valley,smiling.

  'Oh, well done!' said Una, and clapped her hands very softly. 'She wassorry, and she said so.'

  'Aye, she was sorry, and she said so,' said Sir Richard, coming back witha little start. 'Very soon--but _he_ said it was two full hours later--DeAquila rode to the door, with his shield new scoured (Hugh had cleansedit), and demanded entertainment, and called me a false knight, that wouldstarve his overlord to death. Then Hugh cried out that no man should workin the valley that day, and our Saxons blew horns, and set about feastingand drinking, and running of races, and dancing and singing; and De Aquilaclimbed upon a horse-block and spoke to them in what he swore was goodSaxon, but no man understood it. At night we feasted in the Great Hall,and when the harpers and the singers were gone we four sat late at thehigh table. As I remember, it was a warm night with a full moon, and DeAquila bade Hugh take down his sword from the wall again, for the honourof the Manor of Dallington, and Hugh took it gladly enough. Dust lay onthe hilt, for I saw him blow it off.

  'She and I sat talking a little apart, and at first we thought the harpershad come back, for the Great Hall was filled with a rushing noise ofmusic. De Aquila leaped up; but there was only the moonlight fretty on thefloor.

  '"Hearken!" said Hugh. "It is my sword," and as he belted it on the musicceased.

  '"Over Gods, forbid that I should ever belt blade like that," said DeAquila. "What does it foretell?"

  '"The Gods that made it may know. Last time it spoke was at Hastings, whenI lost all my lands. Belike it sings now that I have new lands and am aman again," said Hugh.

  'He loosed the blade a little and drove it back happily into the sheath,and the sword answered him low and crooningly, as--as a woman would speakto a man, her head on his shoulder.

  'Now that was the second time in all my life I heard this Sword sing.'...