I should interpret it to my desires," he returned,
laughing, as he disappeared.

Tall, seeming straighter than usual, upon each cheek a festal rose, she
stood before the duke's _plaisant_, inscrutable, as was her fashion,
the scarf about her shoulders just stirring from the effects of the
dance, and her lips parted to her hurried breathing.

"How did you like the ceremony?" she asked, quietly. "And did you
know," she went on, without noticing the dark look in his eyes or
awaiting his response, "the lance turned upon you to-day was not a
'weapon of courtesy'?"

"You mean it was directed by intention?" he asked indifferently.

"Not only that," she answered. "I mean that the disk had been removed
and the point left bare."

"A mistake, of course," he said, with a peculiar smile.

A look of impatience crossed her face, but she gazed at him intently
and her eyes held his from the floor where they would have strayed.

"Are you stupid, or do you but profess to be?" she demanded. "Before
the tilt I noticed the duke and his trooper talking together. When
they separated the latter, unobserved as he thought, struck the point
of his weapon against his stirrup. The disk fell to the ground."

"Your glance is sharp, Jacqueline," he retorted, slowly. "Thank you
for the information."

Her eyes kindled; an angry retort seemed about to spring from her lips.
It was with difficulty she controlled herself to answer calmly a moment
later.

"You mean it can serve you nothing? Perhaps you are right. To-day you
were lucky. To-morrow you may be--what? To-day you defended yourself
well and it was a good lance you bore. Had it been any other jester,
the king would have praised him. Because it was you, no word has been
spoken. If anything, your success has annoyed him. Several of the
court spoke of it; he answered not; 'tis the signal to ignore it,
and--you!"

"Then are you courageous to brave public opinion and hold converse with
me," he replied, with a smile.

"Public opinion!" she exclaimed with flashing eyes. "What would they
say of a jestress? Who is she? What is she?"

She ended abruptly; bit her lips, showing her gleaming white teeth.
Then some emotion, more profound, swept over her expressive face; she
looked at him silently, and when she spoke her voice was more gentle.

"I can not believe," she continued thoughtfully, "that the duke told
his trooper to do that. 'Tis too infamous. The man must have acted