Bertram meditated for a little while upon this reply.
“But seest thou any reason, Father, wherefore I should not become a great man?” he said, reverting to his original topic.
“I see no reason at all, Bertram Lyngern, wherefore thou shouldst not become a very great man.”
Still Bertram was dissatisfied. He had an instinctive suspicion that his great man and Wilfred’s were not exactly the same person.
“But what meanest by a great man, Father?”
“What meanest thou?”
“I mean a warrior,” said the lad, “dauntless in war, and faithful in love—brave, noble, and high-souled, alway and every whither.”
“And so mean I.”
“But I mean one that men shall talk of, and tell much of his noble deeds and mighty prowess.”
“Were he less brave without?”