'Hallo, young Bertie!'

“Hallo, young Bertie!” Father Brandt called cheerfully. “Hast been in mischief lately, so I hear!”

That Dunstan! Always telling adults about their adventures. What a baby he was sometimes! “We didn’t hurt nobody,” Bertie said.

“I know it, Bertie,” Brandt laughed. “I should like to hear thy version of the tale some times. Thou art quite a storyteller,” he winked.

“Father Brandt, I want to ask you something,” Bertie said seriously. “It’s important.”

“Well, Bertie?” Father Brandt asked, putting on a serious face as well.

'Well, Bertie?'

“Father Brandt, you know my baby brother?”

“I do.”

“My Da says that he is going to be a priest someday.”

“Perhaps…”

“Well, I want to know: how come Da already knows he is going to be a priest, when he is just a baby?”

“This is thy father’s idea for him. Perhaps young Egelric will not desire it.”

“That’s so!” Bertie agreed. “Perhaps he won’t want to be at all, and then what?”

'Then what?'

“I suppose he shall be a farmer.”

“Well, Father Brandt, I want to know: how come Da doesn’t want me to be a priest?”

“Thou must ask thy father!” he laughed. “But I think he means for thee to have his farm someday. Thou art his eldest son.”

“But mayn’t I be a priest?”

“Wouldst thou, Bertie?”

'I don't know.'

“Mmm, I don’t know,” Bertie shrugged. “But I guess if you’re a priest, you have to know how to read.”

“Even so.”

“Well, I guess I would like to learn to read.”

“Bertie! Dost thou understand that to learn to read, one must learn a new language? One must learn Latin, and it is very difficult.”

“Dunstan is go – his young lordship is going to learn it. And he’s not any cleverer than me.”

Father Brandt laughed.

Father Brandt laughed. “If his father heard thee! But I know thy father would agree.”

“Is Latin what you speak in the church?”

“Even so.”

“I know that: Benedic, Domine, nos et haec tua dona… quae de tua… de tua…”

'Et vitam aeternam, Amen!'

“…de tua largitate sumus sumpturi. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen! Thou hast big ears, for so little a boy. Dost thou understand the phrase?”

“Well, I guess it means it’s time for dinner. You always say that when you come to eat.”

Brandt roared with laughter. “Bertie, I should like to teach thee, if only to have the fun of thee. Tell me how many years have thee?”

“Six. I’m older than Dunstan! I mean his lordship!”

“Bertie, I shall begin instructing his young lordship in this winter. If thy father will allow it, come and listen.”

'If thy father will allow it, come and listen.'