Father Francis hesitated.

"It is not for me, my son, to judge motives, or to speak well or ill of
the instruments who have been chosen for this great work. It is of all
works the most praiseworthy, most holy. It is horrible to think that the
holy shrines of Jerusalem should be in the hands of men who believe not
in our Redeemer; and I hold it to be the duty of every man who can bear
arms, no matter what his rank or his station, to don his armor and to go
forth to battle in the cause. Whether success will crown the effort, or
whether God wills it otherwise, it is not for man to discuss; it is
enough that the work is there, and it is our duty to do it."

"And think you, Father, that it will do good to England?"

"That do I, my son, whether we gain the Holy Land or no. Methinks that
it will do good service to the nation that Saxon and Norman should fight
together under the holy cross. Hitherto the races have stood far too
much apart. They have seen each other's bad qualities rather than good;
but methinks that when the Saxon and the Norman stand side by side on
the soil of the Holy Land, and shout together for England, it must needs
bind them together, and lead them to feel that they are no longer
Normans and Saxons, but Englishmen. I intend to preach on the village
green at Evesham next Sunday morning on this subject, and as I know you
are in communication with the forest men, I would, Cuthbert, that you
would persuade them to come in to hear me. You were wondering what could
be found for these vagrants. They have many of them long since lost the
habits of honest labor. Many of them are still serfs, although most have
been freed by the good earl and the knights his followers. Some of those
who would fain leave the life in the woods still cling to it because
they think that it would be mean to desert their comrades, who being