tolerate pretty generally whatever dukes see fit to do.

Accordingly, as soon as Robert had arrived at the castle, he sent a
messenger from his retinue of attendants down to the village, to the
father of Arlotte, proposing that she should come to the castle. The
father seems to have had some hesitation in respect to his duty. It is
said that he had a brother who was a monk, or rather hermit, who lived
a life of reading, meditation and prayer, in a solitary place not far
from Falaise. Arlotte's father sent immediately to this religious
recluse for his spiritual counsel. The monk replied that it was right to
comply with the wishes of so great a man, whatever they might be. The
tanner, thus relieved of all conscientious scruples on the subject by
this high religious authority, and rejoicing in the opening tide of
prosperity and distinction which he foresaw for his family through the
baron's love, robed and decorated his daughter, like a lamb for the
sacrifice, and sent her to the castle.

Arlotte had one of the rooms assigned her, which was built in the
thickness of the wall. It communicated by a door with the other
apartments and inclosures within the area, and there were narrow windows
in the masonry without, through which she could look out over the broad
expanse of beautiful fields and meadows which were smiling below. Robert
seems to have loved her with sincere and strong affection, and to have
done all in his power to make her happy. Her room, however, could not
have been very sumptuously furnished, although she was the favorite in a
ducal castle--at least so far as we can judge from the few glimpses we
get of the interior through the ancient chroniclers' stories. One story
is, that when William was born, his first exploit was to grasp a handful
of straw, and to hold it so tenaciously in his little fist that the
nurse could scarcely take it away. The nurse was greatly delighted with
this infantile prowess; she considered it an omen, and predicted that
the babe would some day signalize himself by seizing and holding great
possessions. The prediction would have been forgotten if William had not
become the conqueror of England at a future day. As it was, it was
remembered and recorded; and it suggests to our imagination a very
different picture of the conveniences and comforts of Arlotte's chamber
from those presented to the eye in ducal palaces now, where carpets of
velvet silence the tread on marble floors, and favori