us--not the pen!" But Rosamund turned on them and answered:

"He who wields sword is brave, and he who wields pen is wise, but
better is he who can handle both sword and pen--like my cousin
Godwin, the brave and learned."

"Hear her! hear her!" cried the revellers, knocking their horns
upon the board, while in the silence that followed a woman's
voice said, "Sir Godwin's luck is great, but give me Sir Wulf's
strong arms."

Then the drinking began again, and Rosamund and the ladies
slipped away, as well they might--for the times were rough and
coarse.

On the morrow, after most of the guests were gone, many of them
with aching heads, Godwin and Wulf sought their uncle, Sir
Andrew, in the solar where he sat alone, for they knew Rosamund
had walked to the church hard by with two of the serving women to
make it ready for the Friday's mass, after the feast of the
peasants that had been held in the nave. Coming to his oaken
chair by the open hearth which had a chimney to it--no common
thing in those days--they knelt before him.

"What is it now, my nephews?" asked the old man, smiling. "Do you
wish that I should knight you afresh?"

"No, sir," answered Godwin; "we seek a greater boon."

"Then you seek in vain, for there is none."