He will, of course, practise at arms regularly, when not occupied in carrying messages; and you will be surprised to hear that he will go for two hours daily to the monastery, where he has, for the last three months, been learning reading and writing at the hands of Brother Roger, the fighting monk.

It is his own desire, and a laudable one; and when I say that he has succeeded in giving Brother Roger satisfaction, you may well imagine that he must have made great progress." A smile ran round the faces of the esquires, for Brother Roger's pugnacious instincts were widely known.
"Truly, Sir Henry, if brother Roger did not lose patience with him, it would be hard, indeed, if we could not get on with him; and in truth, this desire to improve himself speaks well for the lad's disposition." When Hotspur left, Allonby said, "Take a seat, Master Oswald.

But first, have you dined ?" "I took my meal an hour since, with my uncle," Oswald replied.
"Ay, I remember that your uncle sticks to the old hours.

Tell us, were you with your father in that foray he headed, to carry off some cattle that had been lifted by the Bairds?
We heard a report of it, last night." "I was not with him, to my great disappointment; for he said that another year must pass, before I should be fit to hold my own in a fray.

The affair was a somewhat hot one.