to the wearer in attack or defence.

The good Father looked with tender glances at the brave bright boys as
they stood forth on the morning of their departure, ready to sally out
into the wide world with the first glimpse of dawn. He had spent the
previous night at the mill, and many words of fatherly counsel and good
advice had he bestowed upon the lads, now about to be subjected to
temptations and perils far different from any they had known in their
past life. And his words had been listened to with reverent heed, for
the boys loved him dearly, and had been trained by him in habits of
religious exercise, more common in those days than they became, alas in
later times. They had with them an English breviary which had been one
of their mother's most valued possessions, and they promised the Father
to study it with reverent heed; for they were very familiar with the
petitions, and could follow them without difficulty despite their
rudimentary education. So that when they knelt before him for his last
blessing, he was able to give it with a heart full of hope and tender
confidence; and he felt sure that whether the lads went forth for weal
or woe, he should (if they and he both lived through the following
years) see their faces again in this selfsame spot. They would not
forget old friends -- they would seek them out in years to come; and if
fate smiled upon their path, others would share in the sunshine of their
good fortune.

And so the boys rose to their feet again to meet a proud, glad smile
from the eyes of the kind old man; and though Margot's face was buried
in her apron, and honest Jean was not ashamed to let the tears run down
his weatherbeaten face, there was no attempt made to hinder or to sadden
the eager lads. They kissed their good nurse with many protestations of
love and gratitude, telling her of the days to come when they would
return as belted knights, riding on fine horses, and with their esquires
by their side, and how they would tell the story of how they had been
born and bred in this very mill, and of all they owed to those who had
sheltered them in their helpless infancy.

The farewells once over, with the inevitable sadness that such scenes
must entail, the boys' spirits rose with wonderful celerity. True, they
looked back with fond glances at the peaceful homestead where their
childhood had been passed, as they reached the ridge of the undulating
plain from which the last glimpse of the red r