“And think you, Father, that such is the spirit with which King Richard and the other kings and nobles now preparing to go to the Holy Land are animated?”

Father Francis hesitated.

“It is not for me, my son, to judge motives, or to speak well or ill the instruments who have been chosen for this great work.  It is of all works the most praiseworthy, most holy.  It is horrible to think that the holy shrines of Jerusalem should be in the hands of men who believe not in our Redeemer; and I hold it to be the duty of every man who can bear arms, no matter what his rank or his station, to don his armour and to go forth to battle in the cause.  Whether success will crown the effort, or whether God wills it otherwise, it is not for man to discuss; it is enough that the work is there, and it is our duty to do it.”

“And think you, Father, that it will do good to England?”

“That do I, my son, whether we gain the Holy Land or no.  Methinks that it will do good service to the nation that Saxon and Norman should fight together under the holy cross.  Hitherto the races have stood far too much apart.  They have seen each other’s bad qualities rather than good; but methinks that when the Saxon and the Norman stand side by side on the soil of the Holy Land, and shout together for England, it must needs bind them together, and lead them to feel that they are no longer Normans and Saxons, but Englishmen.  I intend to preach on the village green at Evesham next Sunday morning on this subject, and as I know you are in communication with the forest men, I would, Cuthbert, that you would persuade them to come in to hear me.  You were wondering what could be found for these vagrants.  They have many of them long since lost the habits of honest labour.  Many of them are still serfs, although most have been freed by the good earl and the knights his followers.  Some of those who would fain leave the life in the woods, still cling to it because they think that it would be mean to desert their comrades, who being serfs are still bound to lurk there; but methinks that this is a great opportunity for them.  They are valiant men, and the fact that they are fond of drawing an arrow at a buck does not make them one whit the worse Christians.  I will do my best to move their hearts, and if they will but agree together to take the cross, they would make a goodly band of footmen to accompany the earl.”

“Is the earl going?” Cuthbert asked eagerly.

“I know not for certain,” said Father Francis; “but I think from what I hear from his chaplain, Father Eustace, that his mind turns in that direction.”

“Then, Father, if he goes, I will go too,” Cuthbert exclaimed.  “He promised to take me as his page the first time he went to war.”

Father Francis shook his head.

“I fear me, Cuthbert, this is far from the spirit in which we a while ago agreed that men should go to the holy war.”