It was the eve of Saint Michael's Day, "the prince of celestial
chivalry," as these fighting ancestors of ours used to say. It was
wild and stormy, for the summer and autumn had been so wet that the
crops were still uncarried through the country. The river below was
rushing onward in high flood; here it came tumbling, there it
rolled rumbling; here it leapt splashing, there it rushed dashing;
like the water at Lodore; and seemed to shake the rocks on which
Castle Llanystred was built.

And above, the clouds in emulous sport hurried over the skies, as
if a foe were chasing them, in the shape of a southwestern blast.
So the nightfall came on, and Hubert went with the decaying light
into the castle chapel, where he had to watch his arms all night,
with fasting and prayer, spear in hand.

What a night of storm and wind it was on which our Hubert, ere he
received knighthood, watched and kept vigil in the chapel. It
reminded him of that night in the priory at Lewes, and from time to
time weird sounds seemed to reach him in the pauses of the blast.
All but he were asleep, save the sentinels on the ramparts.

He thought of his father, and of the Frenchman, the Sieur de
Fievrault, whose place and even name he was to assume. Once he
thought he saw the figure of the slain Gaul before him, but he
breathed a prayer and it disappeared.

How he welcomed the morning light.
The sun breaks forth, the light streams in,
Hence, hence, ye shades, away!

Imagine our Hubert's joy, when, the following morning, Earl Simon
quite unexpectedly arrived at the castle, and with him the Bishop
of Hereford; come together to confer on important business of state
with the Earl of Hereford, whom they had first sought at his own
city, then followed to this outpost, where they learned from his
people he had come to confer knighthood on some valiant squire.

The reader may also imagine how Earl Simon hoped that that valiant
squire might prove to be Hubert. And lo! so it turned out.

Early in the morning our young friend was led to the bath, where he
put off forever the garb of a squire, then laved himself in token
of purification, after which he was vested in the garb and arms of
knighthood. The under dress given to him was a close jacket of
chamois leather, over which he put a mail shirt, composed of rings
deftly fitted into each other, and very flexible. A breastplate had
to be put on over this. And as each weapon or piece of armour was
given,