rred from the home of their childhood to the castle of some gallant baron to learn the customs of war and peace at his hand, and to acquire habits of good orde

demeanour, as becoming their age, was strictly required before their eld

studied. The various blasts of the horn, indicating when the hounds were slipped, when the prey was flying, and when it stood at bay, had to be acquired, as also the various tracks of the wild animals--the fox, the wolf, the bear, th

him up, with all precision, and during the banquet they had frequent

ierre de Morlaix, and Wilfred of Aescendune, all of the age of fifteen or sixteen, but more advanced physical

lets. They sprang out when the morning horn blew the reveille. First they attended the early mass in St. Wilfred's monastic church, said at daybr

ad, and washed them down with thin wine or mead, much di

teach them a little reading or writing in Latin or Norman French--never in English;

find their way in the deep woods by observing the moss on the trees, or the sides on which the oaks or elms threw their branches the most freely; and when benighted they could sle

retain his claim to the name. But there were higher duties inculcated wheresoever the obligations of chivalry were fully carried out:

xist; the ideal was too high for fallen nature. Our youthful readers will be abl

man castle, with its dungeons and towers, was rising in the place of the old

ple had begun to build like those who sat at peace beneath their own "vine and fig tree," ere the Normans brought the stern realities of war into the

road belts and edged with fur; while leggings protected the feet and ankles from thorns. They each had hunting spears and bow

to command. A second, our readers would have recognised as a typical English boy; his nut-brown hair and blue eyes contrasted strongly with the features of his companions, so marked then were those diff

at ease amongst them; from time to time he reddened as Etienne, Pierre, or Louis called the unhappy th

Etienne, that

not allow me to do that, but of co

English lad reddened, then his fists clenched, and a looker-on would have expected an immediate outbreak,

switch across the face and eyes of one of his attendants; "dost thou think there are so few of thy fellow sw

which rotted, pendant, the corpse of an un

oods bore such acorns, civili

he could not suppress, and, leaving the

him with some little appearance of s

lemen to torment

other, c

y, the son of your stepmoth

ut of the way than in it, besides--why does he not s

est of the pages who were learning "chivalry" at the castle of Aescendune,

king off the conversation, switched savagely at the hea

ke, for they knew that he considered himself defrauded of the lands of Aesc

ute first at the hall, and made his way to his mother's bower, situated in a portion of t

born, and so good a friend to the suffering and the poor; her gaze was like that of one whose thoughts are far away

r hand played with his flowing hair until

e matter, m

longer. I must break the promi

y sainted father say, did he hear thee? An

re; he would not at least make me appear as a coward in

ew that the Normans scorned the name as much as they did the n

hich bound the poor lad

et himself be drawn int

fferance, and that any pretext upon which they could seize would be used ruthlessly against us? Yes, thy death might be the re

how c

not as an Englishman. The time will not

er, surely thou

ope; for shall I not then rejoin thy dear father in a land where war a

ing before him. What would the world be to him, left alone amidst fierce and

and he could say no more, for it shamed his manh

we must

ou not renew thy promise, and

u live; but dost thou think thou art s

ning after morning I rise weaker from my bed, and mortal strength seems slowly and surely forsaking me. But it will

and son knelt

owly declining--passing away, drawing nearer daily to

a few weeks. This medicine the baron--for to such rank had Hugo de Malville been raised, on his accession to the lands of Aescendune--this medicine he would always administer with h

manifestly loosing her hold upon life, although sometimes there would come a

whom he had to share not only the very few hours allotted to study, but those of recreation also. Study, indeed, meant chiefly the use and practice of

h it; and the only recreation which varied the hours of fencing, jousting, tilting, etc., was the kindr

was growing taciturn and sullen, scarcely ever speaking, save when spoken t

sily guessed that

m he felt he was so soon about to lose, and when with her and his sister Edith he felt that

so long foreseen,

ad been talking of the happy days when the husband and father was yet alive, before the fatal day of Senlac.

ve the more power to protect the poor oppressed people of Aescendune, and to shield his dear sister from harm in a world of wrong and violence. She bade him look forward to a better world, where parents and children, separated by death, would meet

her children observed a deadly paleness, a strange gray hue, come over

ber; baron, priest, all were there; she lay as if insensible, but when Father Elphege, the p

the Church of those days for the comfort of the dying, only the last anointing, after the example of

n to approach; she threw her arms fondly

nd he recommenced the litany for the d

m et Passi

am Domin

e soul to the hands of her merciful Father and loving Redeemer. She had gone to rejoin

any, many true mourners, all the poor English who felt that her intercession alone had interposed between them and a cruel lord--

the sense of desolation which fell upo

ed the good prior; "comfort them and defend them