ed
from him, especially since the Count has had daughters and sons; for, as
thou knowest, William and Edward both took vows of chastity in youth
[154], and William got absolved from his, while Edward hath kept firm to
the plight. Not long ere my cousin came back, William had heard that
Edward had acknowledged his kinsman as natural heir to his throne.
Grieved and troubled at this, William had said in my hearing, 'Would that
amidst yon statues of steel, there were some cool head and wise tongue I
could trust with my interests in England! and would that I could devise
fitting plea and excuse for an envoy to Harold the Earl!' Much had I
mused over these words, and a light-hearted man was Mallet de Graville
when, with Sweyn's letter in hand, he went to Lanfranc the abbot and
said, 'Patron and father! thou knowest that I, almost alone of the Norman
knights, have studied the Saxon language. And if the Duke wants
messenger and plea, here stands the messenger, and in his hand is the
plea. Then I told my tale. Lanfranc went at once to Duke William. By
this time, news of the Atheling's death had arrived, and things looked
more bright to my liege. Duke William was pleased to summon me
straightway, and give me his instructions. So over the sea I came alone,
save a single squire, reached London, learned the King and his court were
at Winchester (but with them I had little to do), and that Harold the
Earl was at the head of his forces in Wales against Gryffyth the Lion
King. The Earl had sent in haste for a picked and chosen band of his own
retainers, on his demesnes near the city. These I joined, and learning
thy name at the monastery at Gloucester, I stopped here to tell thee my
news and hear thine."

"Dear brother," said the abbot, looking enviously on the knight, "would
that, like thee, instead of entering the Church, I had taken up arms!
Alike once was our lot, well born and penniless. Ah me!--Thou art now as
the swan on the river, and I as the shell on the rock."

"But," quoth the knight, "though the canons, it is true, forbid monks to
knock people on the head, except in self-preservation, thou knowest well
that, even in Normandy, (which, I take it, is the sacred college of all
priestly lore, on this side the Alps,) those canons are deemed too
rigorous for practice: and, at all events, it is not forbidden thee to
look on the pastime with sword or mace by thy side in case of need.
Wherefore, remembering thee in times