rting to the name of De
Brocas, and thus draw attention to themselves at the outset. There was
great laxity in the matter of names in ages when penmanship was a
recondite art, and even in the documents of the period a name so well
known as that of De Brocas was written Broc and Brook, Brocaz and
Brocazt, and half-a-dozen more ways as well. Wherefore it mattered the
less what the lads called themselves, and they had agreed that Broc,
without the De before it, would be the best and safest patronymic for
them in the present.

"We are twin brothers, may it please you, fair sir; English on our
mother's side, though our father was a Gascon. Our father was much in
England likewise, and, as we hear, held some office about the Court,
though of its exact nature we know not. Both our parents died many long
years since; but we have never ceased to speak the tongue of England,
and to dream of one day going thither. Our names are Gaston and Raymond
Broc, and we are going forth at last in search of the adventures which
men say in these warlike days may be found by young and old, by rich and
poor. Our faces are set towards England. What may befall us there kind
Fortune only knows."

Something in the frank and noble bearing of the lad seemed to please the
knightly stranger. He laid a friendly hand on Gaston's shoulder as the
youth paced with springy strides beside him.

"I trow thou art a mettlesome knave, and I owe thee and thy brother
something more than fair words for the service ye have rendered me this
night. I have lost three or four of my followers by disease and accident
since I left the shores of England. Boy, what sayest thou to taking
service with me for a while -- thou and thy brother likewise -- and
journeying to fair England as two of my young esquires? I like you well,
and in these days it is no small thing to rank in one's train those to
whom the language of Gascony is familiar. I trow ye be able to speak the
French tongue likewise, since ye be so ready with our foreign English?"

"Ay, we can both speak and understand it," answered Gaston, whose cheeks
had crimsoned with eager delight; "but we speak English better. Good
Sir, we could desire nothing better than to follow you to the world's
end; but we have not been trained to the use of arms, nor to knightly
exercises. I know not if we could make shift to please you, be our
service never so faithful."

"In such a case as that, sure I should be a hard master to please