n to Earl Godwin." (Hugh was indeed of Godwin's
blood.) "The Manor that was thine is given to this boy and to his
children for ever. Sit up and beg, for he can turn thee out like a
dog, Hugh."

'Hugh said nothing, but I heard his teeth grind, and I bade De Aquila,
my own overlord, hold his peace, or I would stuff his words down his
throat. Then De Aquila laughed till the tears ran down his face.

"'I warned the King," said he, "what would come of giving England to us
Norman thieves. Here art thou, Richard, less than two days confirmed
in thy Manor, and already thou hast risen against thy overlord. What
shall we do to him, Sir Hugh?"

"'I am a swordless man," said Hugh. "Do not jest with me," and he laid
his head on his knees and groaned.

"'The greater fool thou," said De Aquila, and all his voice changed;
"for I have given thee the Manor of Dallington up the hill this
half-hour since," and he yerked at Hugh with his scabbard across the
straw.

"'To me?" said Hugh. "I am a Saxon, and, except that I love Richard
here, I have not sworn fealty to any Norman."

"'In God's good time, which because of my sins I shall not live to see,
there will be neither Saxon nor Norman in England," said De Aquila.
"If I know men, thou art more faithful unsworn than a score of Normans
I could name. Take Dallington, and join Sir Richard to fight me
tomorrow, if it please thee!"

"'Nay," said Hugh. "I am no child. Where I take a gift, there I
render service"; and he put his hands between De Aquila's, and swore to
be faithful, and, as I remember, I kissed him, and De Aquila kissed us
both.

'We sat afterwards outside the hut while the sun rose, and De Aquila
marked our churls going to their work in the fields, and talked of holy
things, and how we should govern our Manors in time to come, and of
hunting and of horse-breeding, and of the King's wisdom and unwisdom;
for he spoke to us as though we were in all sorts now his brothers.
Anon a churl stole up to me--he was one of the three I had not hanged a
year ago--and he bellowed--which is the Saxon for whispering--that the
Lady Aelueva would speak to me at the Great House. She walked abroad
daily in the Manor, and it was her custom to send me word whither she
went, that I might set an archer or two behind and in front to guard
her. Very often I myself lay up in the woods and watched on her also.

'I went swiftly, and as I passed the great door it opened from within,
and th