Then De Aquila laughed till the tears ran down his face . ' `` I warned the King , '' said he , `` what would come of giving England to us Norman thieves . Here art thou , Richard , less than two days confirmed in thy Manor , and already thou hast risen against thy overlord . What shall we do to him , Sir Hugh ? '' ' `` I am a swordless man , '' said Hugh . `` Do not jest with me , '' and he laid his head on his knees and groaned . ' `` The greater fool thou , '' said De Aquila , and all his voice changed ; `` for I have given thee the Manor of Dallington up the hill this half-hour since , '' and he yerked at Hugh with his scabbard across the straw . ' `` To me ? '' said Hugh . `` I am a Saxon , and , except that I love Richard here , I have not sworn fealty to any Norman . '' ' `` In God 's good time , which because of my sins I shall not live to see , there will be neither Saxon nor Norman in England , '' said De Aquila . `` If I know men , thou art more faithful unsworn than a score of Normans I could name . Take Dallington , and join Sir Richard to fight me tomorrow , if it please thee ! '' ' `` Nay , '' said Hugh . `` I am no child . Where I take a gift , there I render service '' ; and he put his hands between De Aquila 's , and swore to be faithful , and , as I remember , I kissed him , and De Aquila kissed us both . ` We sat afterwards outside the hut while the sun rose , and De Aquila marked our churls going to their work in the fields , and talked of holy things , and how we should govern our Manors in time to come , and of hunting and of horse-breeding , and of the King 's wisdom and unwisdom ; for he spoke to us as though we were in all sorts now his brothers . Anon a churl stole up to me -- he was one of the three I had not hanged a year ago -- and he bellowed -- which is the Saxon for whispering -- that the Lady Ælueva would speak to me at the Great House . She walked abroad daily in the Manor , and it was her custom to send me word whither she went , that I might set an archer or two behind and in front to guard her . Very often I myself lay up in the woods and watched on her also . '
I went swiftly , and as I passed the great door it opened from within , and there stood my Lady Ælueva , and she said to me : `` Sir XXXXX , will it please you enter your Great Hall ? ''
Aquila Dallington House Hugh Norman Normans Richard churls horse-breeding Ælueva