I should be glad,
too, to have you known as Sir Oswald Forster of Yardhope, and not as
Sir Oswald Forster of Stoubes; and in time, if things go well with you,
I charge you to build a castle here, in place of this hold; which has
been good enough for plain men like myself and my father, but which is
no fit residence for the estate you now hold.
"I don't mean to say that I wish you always to live here, for, maybe,
Stoubes is a more pleasant abode, standing in a fair country, and with
the climate somewhat less hard than this; but I should like you to come
up here, at times, and to be known as Forster of Yardhope."
"I will carry out your wishes, Father; but it would please me more for
things to remain as they have been."
"My plan is best, lad. I shall be seneschal here for you, and little
will be changed; save that you will ride at the head of the retainers,
instead of myself. 'Tis not meet that I should hold the feu, when I can
no longer render due service.
"Your mother is wholly of opinion that I have done enough of fighting
for my life, and should trouble myself no longer with raidings and
wars. Your mother has shown sound judgment, and her advice has
generally been good; though I never fully recognized this, till I saw
what great good had come of her wishing you to learn to read and write;
for it is to that, to no small extent, that you owe your rapid rise and
present dignity.
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