“And how do you name him?”
“Cuthbert Trevannion, some day to be Sir Cuthbert, when Sir Walter, now past his fiftieth year, is gathered to his fathers.”
“And this Sir Walter, what was he doing in his father’s life-time?”
“That is hardly known—some say that he was a monk before bluff King Hal pulled down the rookeries, and that he keeps up the old cloister life with a few brethren in the old hall, which he seldom leaves; but that can hardly have been the case, for then how could he have been married and become possessed of so goodly a son?”
“And the son—does he confine himself much to the hall?”
“Oh, he hunts and hawks like other young men, only he keeps somewhat to the home preserves, and seldom shows abroad.”
“Are there any other children?”
“No, this is the only child.”
“And the mother?”
“Died before Sir Walter came home.”