And Hereward wept upon his neck, though he had not wept
upon his mother's.
Then Brand held him at arms' length, or thought he held him, for he was
leaning on Hereward, and tottering all the while; and extolled him as the
champion, the warrior, the stay of his house, the avenger of his kin, the
hero of whom he had always prophesied that his kin would need him, and
that then he would not fail.
But Hereward answered him modestly and mildly,--
"Speak not so to me and of me, Uncle Brand. I am a very foolish, vain,
sinful man, who have come through great adventures, I know not how, to
great and strange happiness, and now again to great and strange sorrows;
and to an adventure greater and stranger than all that has befallen me
from my youth up until now. Therefore make me not proud, Uncle Brand, but
keep me modest and lowly, as befits all true knights and penitent sinners;
for they tell me that God resists the proud, and giveth grace to the
humble. And I have that to do which do I cannot, unless God and his saints
give me grace from this day forth."
Brand looked at him, astonished; and then turned to Herluin.
"Did I not tell thee, prior? This is the lad whom you called graceless and
a savage; and see, since he has been in foreign lands, and seen the ways
of knights, he talks as clerkly as a Frenchman, and as piously as any
monk.
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