'Not I,' said Sir Richard. 'I let the Saxons go their stubborn way, but when my own men-at-arms, Normans not six months in England, stood up and told me what was the custom of the country, then I was angry. Ah, good days! Ah, wonderful people! And I loved them all.'
The knight lifted his arms as though he would hug the whole dear valley, and Swallow, hearing the chink of his chain-mail, looked up and whinnied softly.
'At last,' he went on, 'after a year of striving and contriving and some little driving, De Aquila came to the valley, alone and without warning.
Said he,'I have it all from this child here.'
I saw him first at the Lower Ford, with a swineherd's brat on his saddle-bow.