for the
body; and it was nearly an hour before, in long gown of fur, reshaven,
dainty, and decked, the Sire de Graville bowed, and sighed, and prayed
before the refection set out in the abbot's cell.

The two Normans, despite the sharp appetite of the layman, ate with great
gravity and decorum, drawing forth the morsels served to them on spits
with silent examination; seldom more than tasting, with looks of patient
dissatisfaction, each of the comestibles; sipping rather than drinking,
nibbling rather than devouring, washing their fingers in rose water with
nice care at the close, and waving them afterwards gracefully in the air,
to allow the moisture somewhat to exhale before they wiped off the
lingering dews with their napkins. Then they exchanged looks and sighed
in concert, as if recalling the polished manners of Normandy, still
retained in that desolate exile. And their temperate meal thus
concluded, dishes, wines, and attendants vanished, and their talk
commenced.

"How camest thou in England?" asked the abbot abruptly.

"Sauf your reverence," answered De Graville, "not wholly for reason
different from those that bring thee hither. When, after the death of
that truculent and orgulous Godwin, King Edward entreated Harold to let
him have back some of his dear Norman favourites, thou, then little
pleased with the plain fare and sharp discipline of the convent of Bec,
didst pray Bishop William of London to accompany such train as Harold,
moved by his poor king's supplication, was pleased to permit. The bishop
consented, and thou wert enabled to change monk's cowl for abbot's mitre.
In a word, ambition brought thee to England, and ambition brings me
hither."

"Hem! and how? Mayst thou thrive better than I in this swine-sty!"

"You remember," renewed De Graville, "that Lanfranc, the Lombard, was
pleased to take interest in my fortunes, then not the most flourishing,
and after his return from Rome, with the Pope's dispensation for Count
William's marriage with his cousin, he became William's most trusted
adviser. Both William and Lanfranc were desirous to set an example of
learning to our Latinless nobles, and therefore my scholarship found
grace in their eyes. In brief since then I have prospered and thriven.
I have fair lands by the Seine, free from clutch of merchant and Jew. I
have founded a convent, and slain some hundreds of Breton marauders.
Need I say that I am in high favour? Now it so chanced that