and it was days ere he could cast it from

his mind. but how can one serve people who are so foolish and so

ungrateful?"

whilst the seneschal of villefranche had been detailing the evil

doings of his tenants, alleyne had been unable to take his eyes

from the face of lady tiphaine. she had lain back in her chair,

with drooping eyelids and bloodless face, so that he had feared

at first her journey had weighed heavily upon her, and that the

strength was ebbing out of her. of a sudden, however, there came

a change, for a dash of bright color flickered up on to either

cheek, and her lids were slowly raised again upon eyes which

sparkled with such lustre as alleyne had never seen in human eyes

before, while their gaze was fixed intently, not on the company,

but on the dark tapestry which draped the wall. so transformed

and so ethereal was her expression, that alleyne, in his

loftiest dream of archangel or of seraph, had never pictured so

sweet, so womanly, and yet so wise a face. glancing at du

guesclin, alleyne saw that he also was watching his wife closely,

and from the twitching of his features, and the beads upon his

brick-colored brow, it was easy to see that he was deeply

agitated by the change which he marked in her.

"how is it with you, lady?" he asked at last, in a tremulous

voice.

her eyes remained fixed intently upon the wall, and there was a

long pause ere she answered him. her voice, too, which had been

so clear and ringing, was now low and muffled as that of one who

speaks from a distance.

"all is very well with me, bertrand," said she. "the blessed

hour of sight has come round to me again."

"i could see it come! i could see it come!" he exclaimed,

passing his fingers through his hair with the same perplexed

expression as before.

"this is untoward, sir tristram," he said at last. "and i scarce

know in what words to make it clear to you, and to your fair

wife, and to sir nigel loring, and to these other stranger

knights. my tongue is a blunt one, and fitter to shout word of

command than to clear up such a matter as this, of which i can

myself understand little. this, however, i know, that my wife is

come of a very sainted race, whom god hath in his wisdom endowed

with wondrous powers, so that tiphaine raquenel was known

throughout brittany ere ever i first saw her at dinan. yet these

powers are ever used for good, and they are the gift of god and

not of the devil, which is the difference betwixt white magic and

black."

"perchance it would be as well that we should send for father

stephen," said sir tristram.

"it would be best that he should come," cried the hospitaller

"and bring with him a flask of holy water," added the knight of

bohemia.

"not so, gentlemen," answered sir bertrand. "it is not needful

that this priest should be called, and it is in my mind that in

asking for this ye cast some slight shadow or slur upon the good

name of my wife, as though it were still doubtful whether her

power came to her from above or below. if ye have indeed such a

doubt i pray that you will say so, that we may discuss the matter

in a fitting way."

"for myself," said sir nigel, "i have heard such words fall from

the lips of this lady that i am of the opinion that there is no

woman, save only one, who can be in any way compared to her in

beauty and in goodness. should any gentleman think otherwise, i

should deem it great honor to run a small course with him, or

debate the matter in whatever way might be most pleasing to him."

"nay, it would ill become me to cast a slur upon a lady who is

both my guest and the wife of my comrade-in-arms," said the

seneschal of villefranche. "i have perceived also that on her

mantle there is marked a silver cross, which is surely sign

enough that there is nought of evil in these strange powers which

you say that she possesses."

this argument of the seneschal's appealed so powerfully to the

bohemian and to the hospitaller that they at once intimated that

their objections had been entirely overcome, while even the lady

rochefort, who had sat shivering and crossing herself, ceased to

cast glances at the door, and allowed her fears to turn to

curiosity.

"among the gifts which hare been vouchsafed to my wife," said du

guesclin, "there is the wondrous one of seeing into the future;

but it comes very seldom upon her, and goes as quickly, for none

can command it. the blessed hour of sight, as she hath named it,

has come but twice since i have known her, and i can vouch for it

that all that she hath told me was true, for on the evening of

the battle of auray she said that the morrow would be an ill day

for me and for charles of blois. ere the sun had sunk again he

was dead, and i the prisoner of sir john chandos. yet it is not

every question that she can answer, but only