"And I too have been driven from Paradise: my Eden was here."
"Wouldst thou return if thou couldst; if Brian consented to release thee." And the old man looked the youth full in the face.
Osric was transparently truthful.
"No, grandfather," he said, and then blushed.
"Ah, thou art young and lovest adventure and the gilded panoply of war: what wonder! such was thy father, Wulfnoth of Compton, of whom thou art the sole surviving child."
"Tell me, grandfather, is he dead—is my poor father dead?"
"That is a secret which may not be committed even to thee; were he alive, he would curse thee, did he know thou wert fighting under Brian's banner."
"It was to save thy life."
"I know it, my child, and would be the last to blame thee, yet I am glad thy father knows it not. He has never inquired concerning thee."
"Then he is alive?"