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"He said that Simon would ride against the true religion."

"He'd never do that, surelye, seeing all he's working for it now."

"Husband, you forget!" cried Elisabeth. "The true religion is the Protestant religion."

"Aye, and so it is—I had disremembered. Poor Simon 'ull ride against that, right and sure enough."

"And I ride to meet him?—maybe, that's also true. But I döan't follow what he said about the Crusades and the Cross."

"Maybe it was another Simon he spoke of. 'Tis a name that Alards have been called before this."

"Did a Simon Alard ever go to the Crusades?"

"For shame, thou ignorant girl! Why, Kit here hath his coat of arms from Simon Alard who went to the Crusades and came back with a border of scallop shells for his shield, same as the Oxenbrigges have now. His daughter married an Oxenbrigge and the family took over the Alard arms, seeing that was the end of 'em. Simon Alard had no son."

"Our Simon will have no son."

"No need to tell me that. By Cock! I think enough of it, knowing that all I do will be done for thy cousin Tom—my house with its new porch and hall, my new ploughed lands, my innings on the marsh; aye, and if I blow a furnace it will blow for Tom and his sons and not for Simon and my grandsons. 'Tis hard, hard fortune, and my only comfort's that I'm a lusty man and will most like live eighty years like my father before me."