will be all that is left of both of us."

"Hark!" she continued, "the crier summons all men with their arms to the
market-place to fight England's foes. Therefore one word more while I
buckle the sword Wave-Flame on to you, as doubtless his women folk did
on to Thorgrimmer, your ancestor. My blessing on you, Hubert. Be you
such a one as Thorgrimmer was, for we of the Norse blood desire that
our loves and sons should prove not backward when swords are aloft
and arrows fly. But be you more than he, be you a Christian also,
remembering that however long you live, and the Battle-maidens have not
marked you yet, at last you must die and give account.

"Hubert, you are such a one as women will love; one, too, who, I fear
me, will be a lover of women, for that weakness goes with strength and
manhood by Nature's laws. Be careful of women, Hubert, and if you may,
choose those who are not false and cling to her who is most true. Oh,
you will wander far; I read it in your eyes that you will wander far,
yet shall your heart stay English. Kiss me and begone! Lad, are you
forgetting your spare arrows and the bull-hide jerkin that was your
father's? You will want them both to-day. Farewell, farewell! God and
His Christ be with you--and shoot you straight and smite you hard. Nay,
no tears, lest my eyes should be dimmed, for I'll climb to the attic and
watch you fight."



CHAPTER II

THE LADY BLANCHE