“Because I thought to myself, how unfit I was to bring up a boy to be such a knight as—as you would have him; how likely I was, ere all was over, to make him as great a ruffian as myself.”
“Hereward! Hereward!” and she threw her arms round his neck for the tenth time. “Blessed be you for those words! Those are the fears which never come true, for they bring down from heaven the grace of God, to guard the humble and contrite heart from that which it fears.”
“Ah, Torfrida, I wish I were as good as you!”
“Now—my joy and my life, my hero and my scald—I have great news for you, as well as a little baby. News from England.”
“You, and a baby over and above, are worth all England to me.”
“But listen: Edward the king is dead!”
“Then there is one fool less on earth; and one saint more, I suppose, in heaven.”
“And Harold Godwinsson is king in his stead. And he has married your niece Aldytha, and sworn friendship with her brothers.”
“I expected no less. Well, every dog has his day.”
“And his will be a short one. William of Normandy has sworn to drive him out.”