登陆注册
15324000000013

第13章 THE ENGLISHMAN(5)

Inside the homestead the Lady Hilda moved happily, a wife smiling and well content.She had won more than a husband; it seemed she had made a convert;for daily Jehan grew into the country-side as if he had been born in it.

Something in the soft woodland air and the sharper tang of the fens and the sea awoke response from his innermost soul.An aching affection was born in him for every acre of his little heritage.His son, dark like his father, who made his first diffident pilgrimages in the sunny close where the pigeons cooed, was not more thirled to English soil.

They were quiet years in that remote place, for Aelward over at Galland had made his peace with the King.But when the little Jehan was four years old the tides of war lapped again to the forest edges.One Hugo of Auchy, who had had a usurer to his father and had risen in an iron age by a merciless greed, came a-foraying from the north to see how he might add to his fortunes.Men called him the Crane, for he was tall and lean and parchment-skinned, and to his banner resorted all malcontents and broken men.He sought to conduct a second Conquest, making war on the English who still held their lands, but sparing the French manors.The King's justice was slow-footed, and the King was far away, so the threatened men, banded together to hold their own by their own might.

Aelward brought the news from Galland that the Crane had entered their borders.The good Ivo was overseas, busy on the Brittany marches, and there was no ruler in Fenland.

"You he will spare," Aelward told his sister's husband."He does not war with you new-comers.But us of the old stock he claims as his prey.How say you, Frenchman? Will you reason with him? Hereaways we are peaceful folk, and would fain get on with our harvest.""I will reason with him," said Jehan, "and by the only logic that such carrion understands.I am by your side, brother.There is but the one cause for all us countrymen."But that afternoon as he walked abroad in his cornlands he saw a portent.Aheron rose out of the shallows, and a harrier-hawk swooped to the pounce, but the long bird flopped securely into the western sky, and the hawk dropped at his feet, dead but with no mark of a wound.

"Here be marvels," said Jehan, and with that there came on him the foreknowledge of fate, which in the brave heart wakes awe, but no fear.He stood silent for a time and gazed over his homelands.The bere was shaking white and gold in the light evening wind; in the new orchard he had planted the apples were reddening; from the edge of the forest land rose wreaths of smoke where the thralls were busy with wood-clearing.There was little sound in the air, but from the steading came the happy laughter of a child.

Jehan stood very still, and his wistful eyes drank the peace of it.

"Non nobis, Domine," he said, for a priest had once had the training of him."But I leave that which shall not die."He summoned his wife and told her of the coming of the Crane.From a finger of his left hand he took the thick ring of gold which Ivo had marked years before in the Wealden hut.

"I have a notion that I am going a long journey," he told her."If I do not return, the Lord Ivo will confirm the little lad in these lands of ours.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 奈何杳无音信

    奈何杳无音信

    一座琉璃宫,一颗琉璃树,一处琉璃,两处相思,万缕千丝,化为琉璃......一座月老阁,一根红丝线,不让两人天涯隔,倒叫两人成眷属......“你本无心,又怎有情呢?”“是啊!我本无心......”“只是,这缘分二字......”|司命说:“这世间有太多的爱而不得,也有太多的无可奈何,我的无能为力,让我痛苦不堪,难道真的不能改变吗?”冥王说:“明明知道是这样的结果,为什么还要一意孤行呢?”月老说:”看着许多有情人终成眷属,想来这便是这红丝线的意义了,也是我存在的意义了“......许多人都在说着自己的故事......石姬你又有什么故事要说呢......
  • 扶天广圣如意灵签

    扶天广圣如意灵签

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 樱花梦,飘零散

    樱花梦,飘零散

    他们,她们是优曦学院的三大校花和三大校草。他/她们从相识到相爱。这之间发生了太多太多,曾因三个贱人反而不相信她们。
  • 筝世

    筝世

    阴差阳错降临异世,是命运的安排还是上天的捉弄。初遇、便如命定一样你那翩翩如玉的模样映入脑海。清冷、不过是没有遇见让我炽热的人、那个男人说:“于你我便入了魔又有何惧、若是与世为敌我便诛尽世间一切与你携手。”“我们于彼此就是对方的命,即使你死我也要入地狱为你牵魂引魄,续命长生。我不怕任何就怕失去你、师兄。”“喂,小丫头你别理我,会连累你的!师兄的时日不多了,再不能保护你了”“不!我不要师兄离开上天入地定要寻你!”我命本是借、岂可苟且生。大争之世,筝还是不争!?当然是筝!
  • 古风情劫

    古风情劫

    她是一个温柔的女人,也是一个实力高强的女人!她的男人有野心,想做一国帝君,她为了帮他,不惜牺牲自己苦心经营的暗势力,可最后却换来了。。。问世间情为何物,当真是不可以拥有吗?还是我不配拥有?李清圣对着桃树喃喃自语,地上安静的躺着一条沾血丝巾。。。。这里有着各种人,或痴心,或狂热,或懵懂,或同性,迷茫着寻找,那一屡情丝。
  • TFBOYS:半夏微凉

    TFBOYS:半夏微凉

    那年夏天当他们遇见她们。她们说;青春不老,我们不散。他们说;有些人说不清哪里好,可就是谁也代替不了。当他们遇见她们,又会发生什么。重庆便是这个梦开始的地方
  • 总裁宠妻成瘾

    总裁宠妻成瘾

    她坚信母亲不会在最幸福的时候选择自杀。因此踏上寻母死因的路。侍候母亲多年的佣人与佣人之子相继死于非命。究竟是谁在幕后操控着这一切?在最低谷的时候,她遇见了他。一个看似冰冷,实则温暖的人。然而,他的秘密也随着寻找母亲死因展开,上演一场温暖的爱恋。此生有你,无憾。情深缘也深。
  • 纯情乖乖女大战恶毒前友

    纯情乖乖女大战恶毒前友

    「我只是遵守约定回来了」「可是你却有了第二个女生」「一切都是不可思议。我并不是小三,你也不是花心男」「雨。倪。依,纠缠不清的关系该如果解决?」
  • 万灵大陆——混沌录

    万灵大陆——混沌录

    混沌时期,万物共存。相杀,相依。无数生灵灭绝,又有无数生灵诞生……这是个诸神的世界,也是万灵的世界。
  • 暧昧不对味

    暧昧不对味

    “你是不是喜欢我啊?”“开玩笑,喜欢一个你这样的男人婆,还不如自杀比较痛快呢。”“滚!你这个王八蛋,有多远就滚多远。”“但是你是我的老婆,我也不会喜欢别人。”王子爱上的不一定是公主,他也可能会爱上男人婆。远赴英国留学的王子沈天,再次回到中国时,救了一位女孩子,本来应该得到的感谢,却因为他的自大挨了一顿臭骂。真是冤家不聚首啊,没想到晚上因为一场意外,进到警察局里又碰见了这位野蛮的女孩子,而且她还不管不问的就认定沈天是那位色狼,对他拳脚相加,简直比男人还要厉害,后来这对欢喜冤家又再次遇见,因为男人婆的乐观,让沈天体会到了家的温暖,也渐渐化解了他内心中的悲伤。男人婆遇到了困难,宴会之上沈天他终于跟童话里面王子一样,来救他这位男人婆公主,最后这对的结局又是怎样?这对冤家又会有哪些啼笑皆非的事情?究竟怎样才算完美…………