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