Lastly, I would that this good fight might be fought soberly and
in earnest, neither in the fever of a fanatical fury nor, on the other
hand, lightly, as an amusement and a play, nor selfishly and meanly in
the hope of gain. My words are neither deep, nor learned, nor well
chosen, for I speak as my thoughts rise and overflow. But thanks be to
Heaven, what I say rouses men to act rather than moves them to think.
Yet it is not well that they be over-roused or stirred when a long war
is before them, lest their heat be consumed in a flash of fire, and
their strength in a single blow. You need not a preacher, but a
captain; not words but deeds. You go to make history, not to hear a
prophecy."
"Nevertheless," said the Queen, "you must go with us, for if the spirit
you have called up sinks from men's memories, our actions will be worse
than spiritless. You must go."
"I cannot."
"Cannot? But I say you must."
"No, Madam--I say no."
For a long time the two sat in silence facing each other, the Queen
confident, vital, fully roused to the expression of her will; Bernard,
on the other hand, as fully determined to oppose her with all the
fervent conviction which he brought to every question of judgment or
policy.
"If we fall out among ourselves," said Eleanor, at last, "who shall
unite us? If men lose faith in the cause before them and grow greedy of
the things that lie in their way, who shall set them right?"
The abbot shook his head sorrowfully and would not meet her eyes, for
in this he knew that she was right.
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