r; the
disorder of her hair more becoming than nets of gold and coifs of
jewels. He forgot their danger; the broad plain lay like a pleasure
garden before them; fairer in natural beauty than Francis' conventional
parks.

And she, too, had ceased to remember the dwarf's words, for the joy of
youth is strong, and the sunshine and air were rarely intoxicating.
There was a stirring rhythm in the movement of the steeds; noiselessly
their hoofs beat upon the soft earth and tender mosses. The rains
which elsewhere had flooded the lowlands here but enlivened the vernal
freshness of the scene. The air was full of floating thistle-down; a
cloud of insects dancing in the light, parted to let them pass.

At the sight of a bush, white with flowers, she uttered an exclamation
of pleasure, and broke off a branch covered with fragrant blossoms, as
they rode by. Out of the depths of this store-house of sweets a
plundering humming-bird flashed and vanished, a jewel from nature's
crown! She held the branch to her face and he glanced at her covertly;
she was all jestress again. The cadence of that measured motion shaped
itself to an ancient lyric in keeping with the song of birds, the blue
sky, and the wild roses.

"Hark! hark!
Pretty lark!
Little heedest thou my pain."

He bent his head listening; he could scarcely hear the words. Was it a
sense of new security that moved her; the reaction of their narrow
escape; the knowledge they were leaving the chateau and all danger
behind them?

"Hark! hark!
Pretty lark!--"

Boom! Far in the distance sounded the discharge of a cannon--its iron
voice the antithesis to the poet's dainty pastoral. As the report
reverberated over the valley, from the grass innumerable insects arose;
the din died away; the disturbed earth-dwellers sank back to earth
again. The song ceased from the young girl's lips, and, gazing quickly
back, she could just distinguish, above one of the parapets of the
chateau, a wreath, already nearly dissolved in the blue of the sky.
The jester, who had also turned in his saddle, met her look of inquiry.

"It sounds like a signal of some kind--a salute, perhaps," he said.

"Or a call to arms?" she suggested, and he made no answer. "It
means--pursuit!"

Silent they rode on, but more rapidly. With pale face and composed
mien she kept by his side; her resolute expression reassured him, while
her glance said: "Do not fear for me." Gradually had