“And with such a bride, and such a wife, I shall be invincible. Cheer up, my own Alftrude! If submission will bring down utter ruin as well as utter shame, a bold and persevering resistance, and an unflinching hand-to-hand fight with the enemy, may bring her old laws and liberties back to England, and bring to us glory and happiness, and a peaceful and honoured life in after-times. I would be a peaceful man, even now, if so I might, and if I had less to fight for; for, albeit, I love the art and stratagems of war, and the rapture that is given by the well-contested combat, I love not much blood, and never could get myself to hate any man or parties of men, for any length of time. Were their rule less cruel and tyrannical to the English people, and were my good friends and allies secured in their lives, honours, and properties, I could sit down quietly and in good fellowship with these same Norman knights; nay, I would not refuse a seat on my hearth to Ivo Taille-Bois, or even to his brother Geoffroy.” “Name not that ugly name,” said the Lady Alftrude, blushing a little. And here the discourses ended. The gentle lady had strengthened her heart with the great love that was in it, so as to bear whatsoever might befall her as the mate of Lord Hereward, the last champion of the Saxon liberties. While the lord and lady talked this above stairs, there was something of the like discourse below stairs between the waiting-woman and the sword-bearer; for maid Mildred, merry as she was, could not but feel that Elfric was running a course of great peril, and that peace and tranquility would be a blessed thing, if it could only be obtained. Albeit the young sword-bearer spoke not so knowingly of the old Saxon laws, and the dooms[156] of King Canute, and of Witans and Gemots, as did his lord, he found sufficiently good arguments to show that the war was a just and unavoidable war; and that while everything was to be hoped from bravery, there was nothing to be gotten by a timid submission. There was another consideration:—“But for this war,” said Elfric, “I must have become a monk! I am now a soldier and liege-man to Lord Hereward, and ready, as soon as the lord and ladie permit, to be thy loving husband, oh Mildred of Hadenham!” CHAPTER XIV. HEREWARD IS MADE KNIGHT.