Elf kissed the withered cheek of the elderly nun. "Thank you, sister." There were tears in her eyes.

"Now, now," Sister Winifred chided her gently. "Young Sister Mary Gabriel is working out, even if she has not your instincts." She stepped away from the cart.

"I will not say good-bye, Elf, but only farewell until we meet again," Sister Columba said. "Having you here these last weeks has been a blessing, and it has made me realize that as much as you belong at Ashlin in your capacity as a wife and mother, I belong here within the convent. God bless you, my dear friend." She hugged Elf.

The little train moved from the cloister courtyard out onto the road. The nuns all clustered at the open gate, surrounding the abbess like ducklings surrounding the mother duck.

"Remember fennel water if he grows colicky," Sister Cuthbert called. Being in charge of the children at St. Frideswide's, she knew all such remedies.

They waved. The abbess, Sister Agnes, Sister Hilda, Sister Mary Gabriel, Sister Phillipa, Sister Mary Basil, Sister Anne, Sister Winifred, Sister Columba, Sister Perpetua, and the others.

"Do not forget to keep the gates secure," Ranulf called to the abbess, and she nodded her understanding of his warning.

Elf had not missed the byplay. "Do you think the Welsh will attack the convent?" she asked. In all her years there St. Frideswide’s had been a place of peace and safety.

"It is possible," Ranulf said. "I see no reason why the abbess should take chances, petite. If the Welsh come, there is the possibility they will simply steal the livestock outside the gates and leave the nuns alone. St. Frideswide’s is not known to have rich accoutrements or a store of coin. They have a fine flock of sheep and a small herd of cattle, which might prove tempting to marauders. Still, there is the incident of that convent burned recently."

They traveled the whole day along the easy road back to Ashlin. Now and then Ranulf noticed a lone horseman on the hills above them, but the rider never came close, so he was not particularly threatening. The cart caused them to move slowly, and Ranulf wished he had twice the number of men-at-arms that were accompanying them. But he had not known of the Welsh threat before he departed for Worcester. Finally, however, they reached Ashlin in late afternoon. The serfs in the fields waved to their master and mistress, laying aside their farm tools to come and see Ashlin’s new heir.

"Show them the little lord, lady," Orva said softly.

Elf ordered the cart stopped, and displayed her son to her serfs. There were cries of joy, and many compliments at the healthy little boy. "Here is the line of Strongbow for yet another generation," Elf told her people. "With God’s blessing, he will have brothers and sisters in the years to come."

Father Oswin, the new priest of the manor, came forward. "He has been baptized, of course."

Elf nodded. "By Father Anselm, with Sir Garrick as his godfather and all the nuns his godmothers, represented by my friend, Sister Columba. Simon Hubert de Glandeville will be a patron to St. Frideswide’s where he was born," she told the priest.

"Amen!" Father Oswin said enthusiastically. He was a pleasant-faced young man with warm brown eyes and straight brown hair.

The cart moved through the gates of the demesne, and up to the manor house. Old Ida and Cedric were both waiting to greet their lord and lady.

"Let me have my child," the elderly nursemaid said excitedly.

Elf laughed. "Oh, no, Ida," she told the woman, "this child will have another to watch over him. I cannot get along without you. Willa cannot serve me as well as you serve me. She needs you to teach her. I will not let you go, though you may take my son for now."

Old Ida did not know whether to be disappointed or flattered. She thought a moment as she took the baby into her arms, then decided that she was indeed too ancient to begin with another infant. An infant required a much younger woman. She realized that she far preferred serving her mistress. "I will help you choose the right woman to care for the young lord. He will be her life, as you and your brother were mine."

Behind Elf, Orva smiled a secret smile. The lady had heeded her advice, but done so in such a way as not to offend Ida. Indeed she had made her old nursemaid feel important and indispensable. The lady was wise for one so very young.

They entered the house, and Elf was pleased to see that in her absence all had been well cared for by Cedric and the servants. Seating herself by the fireplace, she took her son from old Ida and began to nurse him, while preparations for the evening meal went on about her.

"I must find Fulk and speak with him," Ranulf said.

Elf nodded, her concentration upon Simon.

Outside the hall Ranulf found his sergeant at arms drilling a troop of men in archery. "Fulk," he said, drawing the grizzled soldier aside.

"My lord?"

"I am going to need a squire to serve me. Have you among your men one who is suitable for such a position? You know the duties required of a squire. Is there a lad here worthy of advancement?"

"My nephew, my lord. He is nineteen years of age and very strong. I have taught him myself how to use a sword, a lan:e, and a battle-ax. When I was a young man, I squired Lord Robert. I will teach the lad how to care for your armor and your horse. His name is Pax, and he will be loyal to you, I vow it, my lord."

"I thought you meant your nephew for your place one day," Ranulf noted.

"There is time for that, my lord," Fulk replied, "and there are others, like Sim, who might replace me one day. Pax will need the experience only being squire to the lord can give him. I have taught him everything I could, my lord. He needs the kind of seasoning that he can only gain being by your side now."

"Which one is he?" Ranulf asked the sergeant at arms.

"Pax, come forward," Fulk called, and a young man stepped from among the cluster of men on the archery green.

"Yes, Uncle?" He was of medium height and stockily built. He had a round head and face, brown hair, brown eyes, and an earnest-looking expression. He bowed nervously to Ranulf. "My lord."

"Fulk says you have the capability to be a squire. Do you want to be one? You know the duties involved, but you will also have to go with me whenever I depart Ashlin. Are you willing?"

Pax smiled a smile that rendered his face almost handsome. "Aye, my lord!" he said enthusiastically.

"You have a month to learn your duties well," Ranulf said. "We leave on a journey for Normandy then."

"I will be ready!" the young man said.

"Can you speak any tongue but your own?" Ranulf asked, and was very surprised by the answer.

"I can speak the Norman tongue some, my lord. Enough to get about, and be of use to you. Actually, I understand it far better than I speak it," Pax answered. "My uncle taught me," he said, replying to the unasked questions he saw on his master’s lips.

Ranulf smiled a slow smile. "Understanding it better than you speak it will be of great use to me, Pax," he told his new squire. "You will, of course, gain a facility for the language when you must speak it daily, but no one need know that."

"Aye, my lord."

"You will serve me in the hall tonight," Ranulf said, then turned and walked away.

"Be loyal and suit him well, and your fortune is made, lad!" the sergeant at arms said, well pleased. "He’s a fair master."

"What am I to do in the hall to serve him?" Pax asked.

"You'll stand behind his chair, see that his cup and the cup of his lady is kept filled. In large households a page would do such work, but we are a small manor," Fulk said. "You'll have to eat early. Go to the kitchens, and the cook will feed you when you explain. Ah, lad, Ashlin is becoming a fine place. We'll be a castle someday. I hope I live to see it."

"Ashlin, a castle?" Pax was astounded. "How do you know such a thing, Uncle? Ashlin is just a little place."

"The lord was summoned to Worcester, lad," Fulk began. "He returns, decides he needs a squire, and says he’s going to Normandy in a month’s time. The lord does not need to go to Normandy on Ashlin’s business. He goes on the business of some great lord, and he goes very discreetly, for our master is certainly of no importance. If he is successful, he will be rewarded. If it were I, I would ask permission from the king to build a castl here at Ashlin to help defend the border. Now remember, Pax, I know none of this to be fact; but certain things happen in a certain order. You have but to keep your eyes and your ears wide open, boy, and your mouth shut. Do you understand?"

"Aye, Uncle. I'll not gossip."

"Not even to impress those wenches you're always chasing," Fulk warned him. "Your bright smile and your strong cock will keep the lasses content enough."

"Aye, Uncle," Pax said. His brown eyes twinkled, and Fulk laughed.

Pax served his master and mistress in the hall that night for the first time. His big hands were damp with his nervousness, but Ranulf praised him, and the lady Eleanore looked upon him favorably.

"Send your mother to me tomorrow," she told the young man. "You will need more clothing than I'll warrant you now possess. I will see she has what she needs to fashion what you will need."

"Thank you, lady," Pax replied.

"Serve my husband well," Elf told him, "and I will see your serfdom is lifted from you, Pax."

He knelt and kissed the hem of her gown. "Thank you, lady!"

"He is a good lad, I can see," Elf told her husband as they at last lay in their bed that night. "Fulk dotes on him, for he has no children of his own. He has seen that Pax and his other nephew, Sim, have been raised well."