Part 25 (1/2)
”I am not good at the telling of tales, as you know, my lord, and I thought it better that you should tell him just as much or as little as you chose.”
”You don't like your work at the forge, Ulf?” for that Wulf had learned was the boy's name.
”I think that I like it better than it likes me,” the boy replied. ”When I get to do the fine work I shall like it, but at present it is 'fetch this tool, Ulf, or file that iron, or blow those bellows,' and if I do but smile I get a cuff.”
”No, no, Ulf,” OsG.o.d said. ”Of course, at present you are but a beginner, and at your age I too had to fetch and carry and be at the bidding of all the men; and it is not for smiling that you get cuffed, but for playing tricks and being away for hours when you are sent on a message to the next street, and doing your errands wrongly. My father tells me you will be a good workman some day. You will never be strong enough to wield a heavy hammer or to forge a battle-axe, but he says your fingers are quick and nimble, and that you will some day be able to do fine work such as clumsy hands could not compa.s.s. But that is not to the point now.”
”You will be glad to be out of the forge for a bit, Ulf?” Wulf asked.
”That should I, but not always.”
”It will not be for very long. I want a watch set upon a Norman in order to know where he goes, and whom he meets, and what he purposes. OsG.o.d tells me that he thinks you could play the part rarely, and that you would be willing for his sake to do our bidding.”
The boy looked up into OsG.o.d's face with an expression of earnest affection.
”I would do anything for him,” he said, ”even if I were to be cut to pieces.”
”OsG.o.d is as much interested in the matter as I am, Ulf; and as he has a.s.sured me that you are to be trusted, I will tell you more as to the man, and my object in setting you to watch him.”
”You can trust me, my lord,” the boy said earnestly. ”I will do your bidding whatever it is.”
”You know, Ulf, that the Duke of Normandy desires the crown of England?”
”So I have heard men say, my lord.”
”Were King Harold out of the way, his chances of obtaining it would be improved.”
The boy nodded.
”I am sure that the duke himself would take no hand in bringing about Harold's death, but there are many of his people who might think that they would obtain a great reward were they to do so.”
The boy nodded again.
”The man I wish you to watch is Walter Fitz-Urse, who is in the train of the bishop. I have no particular reason for suspecting him, beyond the fact that he has but just come over here, and this is scarcely a time a Norman would come to London; though as the bishop is a relation and patron of his he may have come merely to visit him. Still he has, as he thinks, a cause for enmity against the king. He is needy, and, as I know, somewhat unscrupulous. All this is little enough against a man; still it seems to me that his coming bodes danger to the king, and this being so I desire that he shall be watched, in order that I may find out what is his real object in coming over here. I want you to post yourself near the gate of the bishop's palace, and whenever he comes out to follow him save when he is in the train of the bishop--most of all if he sallies out alone or after dark.
”It will not do for you to be always dressed as an apprentice. OsG.o.d will procure for you such clothes as you may require for disguises. One day you can be sitting there as a beggar asking alms, another as a girl from one of the villages with eggs or fowls. You understand that you will have to follow him, to mark where he goes in, and especially, should he be joined by anybody when out, to endeavour to overhear something of what they say to each other. Even a few words might suffice to show me whether my suspicions are true or not. Do you think you can do that? OsG.o.d tells me that you are good at playing a part.”
”I will do it, my lord, and that right gladly. It is a business after my own heart, and I will warrant that those who see me one day will not know me when they see me the next.”
”OsG.o.d will go with you now, and will stay near the bishop's palace until the man you are to watch comes out, and will point him out to you. In a day or two I may be going away with the king; when we return you will tell us what you have found out. Till we go, OsG.o.d will meet you here each morning as the abbey bell rings out the hour of seven. You can tell him anything that you have learned, and then he will give you such further instructions as may seem needful; and remember you must be cautious, for Walter Fitz-Urse would not hesitate to use his dagger on you did he come upon you eaves-dropping.”
”I will give him leave to do so if he catches me,” the boy said.
”Very well, then; OsG.o.d will go with you to buy such clothes as may be necessary, and remember that you will be well rewarded for your work.”
”I want no reward,” the boy said, almost indignantly. ”I am an apprentice, and as my master has bid me do whatever OsG.o.d commands, he has a right to my services. But this is nothing. There is not one in London who would not do aught in his power for Harold, and who would scorn to take pay for it. As this is a matter in which his very life may be concerned, though I am but a boy, and a small one at that, there is nought that I would not do, even to the giving of my life, to spoil these Norman plots.”
OsG.o.d was about to chide the boy angrily for this freedom of speech, but Wulf checked him.