of his sickness, on which the Prior pondered long; of his deep
love, his hopes, his fears, and his desire to be a warrior who
once, as a lad, had wished to be a monk, not that he might shed
blood, but to fight for the Cross of Christ against the Paynim,
ending with a cry of--

"Give me counsel, O my father. Give me counsel."

"Your own heart is your best counsellor," was the priest's
answer. "Go as it guides you, knowing that, through it, it is God
who guides. Nor fear that you will fail. But if love and the joys
of life should leave you, then come back, and we will talk again.
Go on, pure knight of Christ, fearing nothing and sure of the
reward, and take with you the blessing of Christ and of his
Church."

"What penance must I bear, father?"

"Such souls as yours inflict their own penance. The saints forbid
that I should add to it," was the gentle answer.

Then with a lightened heart Godwin returned to the altar rails,
while his brother Wulf was summoned to take his place in the
confessional. Of the sins that he had to tell we need not speak.
They were such as are common to young men, and none of them very
grievous. Still, before he gave him absolution, the good Prior
admonished him to think less of his body and more of his spirit;
less of the glory of feats of arms and more of the true ends to
which he should enter on them. He bade him, moreover, to take his
brother Godwin as an earthly guide and example, since there lived