Besides, if he had written it, the person he sent it to would not be
able to read it, and would have to go to some scribe for an
interpretation of its contents.
"No, no, my lad, you have plenty to learn before you come to be a man,
without bothering your head with this monkish stuff. I doubt if
Hotspur, himself, can do more than sign his name to a parchment; and
what is good enough for the Percys, is surely good enough for you."
The idea had, in fact, been put into Oswald's head by his mother. At
that time the feud with the Bairds had burned very hotly, and it would
have lessened her anxieties had the boy been bestowed, for a time, in a
convent. Oswald himself felt no disappointment at his father's refusal
to a petition that he would never have made, had not his mother dilated
to him, on several occasions, upon the great advantage of learning.
No thought of repeating the request had ever entered his mind. His
father had thought more of it, and had several times expressed grave
regret, to his wife, over such an extraordinary wish having occurred to
their son.
"The boy has nothing of a milksop about him," he said; "and is, for his
age, full of spirit and courage. How so strange an idea could have
occurred to him is more than I can imagine.
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