“What sayest thou, Hubert?”
“I would fain be a soldier of the Cross, like my father, and cut down the Paynim.”
“Like a godly knight I once knew, who, called upon to convert a Saracen, said the Creed and told him he was to believe it. The Saracen, as one might have expected, uttered some words of scorn, and the good knight straight-way clove him to the chine.”
“It was short and simple, my lord; I should like to convert them that way best.”
The chaplain sighed.
“Oh, Hubert!” said Martin.
The earl listened and smiled a sad smile.
“Well, there is work for you both. Mine is not yet done in the busy fighting world; rivers of blood have I seen shed, nay, helped to shed, and I must answer to God for the way in which I have played my part; yet I thank Him that He did not disdain to call one whose career lay in like bloody paths ‘the man after His own heart.’”
“It is lawful to draw sword in a good cause, my lord,” said the chaplain.
“I never doubted it, but I say that Martin’s ambition is more Christ-like—is it not?”