duke is wedded."

"And if he did return?" she asked, wishing to humor him.

"Then the duke is not like to marry the princess," he burst out.

"Not like--to marry!" she replied, suddenly, and moved toward him. Her
clear eyes were full upon him; closely she studied his worn features.
"Not like--but he has married her!"

The jester strove to spring to his feet, but his legs seemed as relaxed
as his brain was dazed.

"Has married!--impossible!" he exclaimed fiercely.

"They were wedded two days since," she went on quietly, possibly
regretting that surprise, or she knew not what, had made her speak.

"Wedded two days since!"

He repeated it to himself, striving to realize what it meant. Did it
mean anything? He remembered how mockingly the jestress' face had
shone before him in the past; how derisive was her irony. From Fools'
hall to the pavilion of the tournament had she flouted him.

"Wedded two days since!"

"You must have your drollery," he said, unsteadily, at length.

She did not reply, and he continued to question her with his eyes.
Quite still she remained, save for an almost imperceptible movement of
breathing. Against the dull beams from the aperture above, her hair
darkly framed her face, pale, dim with half-lights, illusory. When he
again spoke his voice sounded new to his own ears.

"How could the princess have been married? Even if I have lain here as
long as you say, the day for the wedding was set for at least a week
from now."

"But changed!" she responded, unexpectedly.

"Changed!" he cried, sitting on the edge of the couch, and regarding
her as though he doubted he had heard aright. "Why should it have been
changed?"

"Because the duke became a most impatient suitor," she answered.
"Daily he grew more eager. Finally, to attain his end, he importuned
the countess. She laughed, but good-naturedly acceded to his request,
and, in turn importuned the king--who generously yielded. It has been
a rare laughing matter at court--that the duke, who appeared the least
passionate adorer, should really have been such a restless one."

"Dolt that I have been!" exclaimed the jester, with more anger, it
seemed to the girl, than jealousy. "He knew about Caillette, but
professed to be ignorant that the emperor was in Spain. And I believed
his words; thought I was holding something from him; let myself imagine
he could not penetrate my designs. While all the time he was
intriguing with the k