It is enough for me that it is a confidential
mission for Hotspur, and I am proud that you should have been chosen
for it, and I feel convinced that you will prove you have merited our
lord's confidence.
"Goodbye, friend Roger! Don't let your love of fisticuffs and hard
knocks carry you away, but try and bear yourself as if you were still
in the monastery, with the abbot keeping his eye upon you."
Brother Roger laughed.
"You make a cold shiver run down my back, Alwyn. I was feeling as if I
had just got out of a cold cellar, into the sunshine, and could shout
with very lightness of heart. I am not in the least disposed to quarrel
with anyone, so let your mind be easy as to my doings. I shall be
discretion itself; and even if I am called upon to strike, will do so
as gently as may be, putting only such strength into the blow as will
prevent an opponent from troubling us further."
So, with a wave of the hand, they rode on.
"I had better strap that staff beside your saddle, and under your
knee," Oswald said, when they had ridden a short distance. "You carry
it as if it were a spear, and I have seen already three or four people
smile, as we passed them."
Roger reluctantly allowed Oswald to fasten the staff beside him.
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