“I shall know better things, my boy, before six months are out.”
“Uncle, uncle, do not say that.”
“Why not? If this mortal life be at best a prison and a grave, what is it worth now to an Englishman?”
“More than ever; for never had an Englishman such a chance of showing English mettle, and winning renown for the English name. Uncle, you must do something for me and my comrades ere we go.”
“Well, boy?”
“Make us knights.”
“Knights, lad? I thought you had been a belted knight this dozen years?”
“I might have been made a knight by many, after the French, fashion, many a year agone. I might have been knight when I slew the white bear. Ladies have prayed me to be knighted again and again since. Something kept me from it. Perhaps” (with a glance at Herluin) “I wanted to show that an English squire could be the rival and the leader of French and Flemish knights.”
“And thou hast shown it, brave lad!” said Brand, clapping his great hands.
“Perhaps I longed to do some mighty deed at last, which would give me a right to go to the bravest knight in all Christendom, and say, ‘Give me the accolade, then! Thou only art worthy to knight as good a man as thyself.’”