But one day De Guader came into her bower in full harness, wearing helm and hauberk, with his great two-handed sword by his side.
He came up to her, and stood before her, and looked in her face, and took her soft mother's hand between his two big palms.
'See'st thou?' he asked, and he guided her eyes with his own towards his arm, whereon was bound the cross of the Crusaders.
'Ah, Ralph!' she cried,'not thou!'
De Guader dons the Cross.
'Sweet,' he said gently, 'When I lay on the field of my greatest fight, in sore distress and despair, with the choughs and ravens waiting to feed on mine eyes, and the thought of thee as of one I should never see again till the sounding of the last trump, I vowed that if life were spared me, I would one day make pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre. Now the time has come, my lady. Life has given me more than I had dared to hope for, but it is passing; we are no longer young, you and I, old wife! Let me join the men who have responded to Pope Urban's call. Robert Curthose is moving. I will put my hands between his and be his man, and march under his banner to join Godfrey de Bouillon.'
'Whom all men honour!' said Emma under her breath.
'Wilt thou give me thy blessing and thy leave, my lady?'
'Thou art sudden! Let me be alone and think,' said Emma; and she left him for a space. When she came back to him, her face was very pale, but she met his eyes with a steady smile, and, in turn, guided them to her arm, on which was bound the cross of the Crusaders. 'Wilt thou give me thy blessing and thy leave, my knight?' she asked.