The following days were so full of excitement that little time was left for the tapestry chamber. The two knights were on their way southward to meet King Henry and aid him to pacify some of his turbulent subjects. Roger was to be left at the castle. It was usual for a knight to send his sons to some friend for training during the years when a boy must learn the duties of page and esquire. In this case there was more than usual reason for it, for Sir Hugh's castle was in a remote part of England and it would not be safe to leave his only son there during his absence. Roger himself, while he frankly admitted that he did not much like leaving England, was keenly interested in all that he saw and heard. Soon it seemed as if he had always been at home in the old Norman castle. He called Lady Ebba “grandame,” as Eleanor had never dared to do, and though she was as strict with him as she was with every one else, she never seemed exactly displeased with him. Roger himself saw it. “Why do you like boys better than girls?” he asked her point blank, one day. “Men can fight,” Lady Ebba answered, curtly. “Of course,” Roger reflected. “But women can make men fight. Father told me that once when the Danes tried to take your father's castle you held them off until he came back.” Lady Ebba did not say anything. She rose and stalked away, but although her back was to Roger, Eleanor could see that she was actually smiling. Eleanor knew that story. It gave her a feeling of enormous admiration and awe when she thought of it, but love--for a grandmother who had commanded a garrison, on scanty rations, besieged by fierce and bloodthirsty pirates--seemed a little out of place. It was certainly far pleasanter, having Roger for a playmate. Eleanor thought it was better than having a sister. He taught her to run, to fish, to play bowls, nine-men-morris, and draughts. The dismal stone hall was not half so grim with Roger in her corner. These diversions did not, however, interrupt the daily lessons, the task in spinning, or the newly-begun tapestry. To her great satisfaction Eleanor found that Roger liked the tapestry chamber nearly or quite as well as she did. When he saw Eleanor's tapestry he persuaded Sir Hugh l'Estrange to spend a rainy morning in making sketches for it. “Father has been to Egypt and the other places,” he explained, “and knows just how they look. You never saw a dragon, though, father?” he added doubtfully.