the heroine. The setting is French--a castle in
Aix-en-Provence; it is the fourteenth century, for tourneys and
hawking-parties are the amusements, and a birthday is celebrated by an
award of crowns to the victors in the lists, when there are ladies in
brave attire, thrones, canopies, false knight and true knight. . . .
Here is the story.

Once upon a time there were three beautiful princesses, and they lived
in a splendid castle. The youngest had neither father nor mother, so she
had come to dwell with her cousins, and they had all been quite happy
together until one day in summer, when there was a great tourney and
prize-giving to celebrate the birthday of the youngest princess. She was
to award the crowns, and her cousins dressed her like a queen for the
ceremony. She was very happy; she laughed and "sang her birthday-song
quite through," while she looked at herself, garlanded with roses, in
the glass before they all three went arm-in-arm down the castle stairs.
The throne and canopy were ready; troops of merry friends had
assembled. These kissed the cheek of the youngest princess, laughing and
calling her queen, and then they helped her to stoop under the canopy,
which was pierced by a long streak of golden sunshine. There, in the
gleam and gloom, she took her seat on the throne. But for all her joy
and pride, there came to her, as she sat there, a great ache of longing
for her dead father and mother; and afterwards she remembered this, and
thought that perhaps if her cousins had guessed that such sorrow was in
her heart, even at her glad moment, they might not have allowed the
thing to happen which did happen.

All eyes were on her, except those of her cousins, which were lowered,
when the moment came for her to stand up and present the victor's crown.

Shy and proud and glad, she stood up, and as she did so, there stalked
forth Count Gauthier--

". . . And he thundered 'Stay!'
And all stayed. 'Bring no crowns, I say!'

'Bring torches! Wind the penance-sheet
About her! Let her shun the chaste,
Or lay herself before their feet!
Shall she whose body I embraced
A night long, queen it in the day?
For Honour's sake no crowns, I say!'"

* * * * *

Some years afterwards she told the story of that birthday to a dear
friend, and when she came to Count Gauthier's accusation, she had to
stop speaking for an instant, because her