"Think you that you will go to the war, Sir Walter?" Cuthbert asked.

"I know not as yet; it must much depend upon the king's mood. For myself
I care not so greatly as some do about this question of the Holy Land.
There has been blood enough shed already to drown it, and we are no
nearer than when the first swarms of pilgrims made their way thither."

On Cuthbert's returning home and telling his mother all that had passed,
she shook her head, but said that she could not oppose his wishes to go
with the earl when the time should come, and that it was only right he
should follow in the footsteps of the good knight his father.

"I have heard much of these Crusades," he said; "canst tell me about
them?"

"In truth I know not much, my son; but Father Francis, I doubt not, can
tell you all the particulars anent the affair."

The next time that Father Francis, who was the special adviser of Dame
Editha, rode over from the convent on his ambling nag, Cuthbert eagerly
asked him if he would tell him what he knew of the Crusades.

"Hitherto, my son," he said, "the Crusades have, it must be owned,
brought many woes upon Europe. From the early times great swarms of
pilgrims were accustomed to go from all parts of Europe to the holy
shrines.

"When the followers of the evil prophet took possession of the land,
they laid grievous burdens upon the pilgrims, heavily they fined them,
persecuted them in every way, and treated them as if indeed they were