YOU KNOW MY WALL HANGING?” LORD STEPHEN asked me.
“The story of your life, sir?”
“So far.”
“Lady Judith showed me, sir—the panel when you were seven and fell out of a tree, and your betrothal, and when you met Queen Eleanor.”
“Do you remember the one with two hearts?”
“Side by side on a shield? One was gules and one argent.”
“Exactly. Well, on the day before I was knighted—”
“Who knighted you, sir?”
“Will you let me finish? You’re as bad as an untrained terrier.” Lord Stephen glared at me. “Sir William’s father…he knighted me, if you must know. Now on the day before, my own father told me a knight should have two hearts: one adamantine as a diamond—”
“Adamantine, sir?”
“Unbreakable. And the other heart, he said, should be soft as hot wax. A knight should be hard and cutting when he’s dealing with cruel men. He should give them no quarter. But he should allow himself to be shaped and molded by considerate and gentle people. A knight must be careful not to allow cruel men anywhere near his heart of wax, because any kindness extended to them would be wasted. But he should never be harsh or unforgiving to women and men who need care or mercy.”
“Whatever we do to others we do also to God Himself,” I said.
“Very good, Arthur. You should have been a priest.”
“Sir!”
“Just a joke.”
“You do think…”
“Yes, Arthur, I do. I am proud of you. Proud of you and proud for you. Now, have I said that before?”
“No, sir.”
“No, well, once is enough! You’ve served me well as a squire and given your utmost, and you’ll continue to serve me well as a young knight.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Tomorrow’s a great day for you.”
“The most important day of my life.”
“Tomorrow, yes,” Lord Stephen said, “but it’s the next day and the day after that really matter.”
“Sir?”
“Certain events in our lives mark our passage through this world. Baptism, confirmation, betrothal, and marriage…But what matters is how we make use of these crossing-places. How we apply them to the rest of our lives. Isn’t that right?”
Lord Stephen told me that Milon’s priest will come and shave a tonsure on the top of my head early tomorrow morning, and explain the ceremony, and tell me the order of the words. After that I am to wear white, and Milon will give me a white surcoat, and a new sword.
I am writing all this quite calmly as if it were happening to someone else, but it is happening to me, Arthur.
I know I’m still young to be knighted. Tom’s seventeen, and he hasn’t been knighted yet, and Serle wasn’t until last year, while Lord Stephen and I were away.
Although I’ve never actually seen the ceremony, I saw in my stone how Sir Kay was knighted, so I know what it’s like. The great church of Saint Paul picked up and echoed all of Kay’s words. Even though my ceremony will not be in a church, I think it will be the same for me. My vows will echo and travel with me all the days of my life.