pity for the man
who stood so anxiously before him, but he hardened his heart and said,
"I think that the Earl will not delay his purpose: he is swift to do
his will." A great cloud of sadness came down on the Lord Bigod's
face, and he said very low, "That is a good way, the way of a great
warrior--so be it then, sir," and he softly withdrew, asking Hugh to
wait for him.

Then fell a long silence; and Hugh, looking upon the folded letter on
the table, felt it to be a cruel thing; but he never wavered in
loyalty to the Earl, and thought to himself that the longer the maiden
waited the more would she perchance be terrified; that great men must
wed as they would--and other things with which he sought to excuse
what seemed a harsh deed.

Suddenly he heard a footstep; a door opened; and the Lord Bigod
appeared, leading a maiden into the room, who encircled his arm with
her hands. She was tall and slender, apparelled all in white, with a
girdle of gold. She was very pale, but bore herself with a gentle and
simple grace; and there fell upon Hugh a thought that he cast from him
as it were with both his hands. He had never known love, and his heart
was as pure as snow; the maidens that he had seen had appeared to him
but as distant visions of tenderness and grace, stirring in his heart
nothing but a sort of brotherly compassion for things so delicate and
frail, and unfit for the hard world in which men must live. But at the
sight of the Lady Mary, her great eyes, in which there seemed a trace
of swimming tears, he felt suddenly a deep passionate hunger of the
heart, as though a sweet and deep mystery, lying far-off, had been
brought suddenly near to him. Was this love, that great power of which
the poets sung; the power which had lost kingdoms and wrought the
destruction of men? He feared it was so indeed. He felt as a poor man
might, who had lived in pinching want, and had suddenly found a great
treasure of gold, at the stroke of a mattock in his field. One glance
passed between them; and it seemed as though some other thing had
passed; as though their souls had leapt together. Then he dropped his
eyes and stood waiting, while a faint fragrance seemed to pass upon
the air. Then the Lord Bigod said very gravely, "Sir Hugh, I have told
the Lady Mary of your errand; and she will do the bidding of the Earl
in every point. To-day we will make preparation; to-morrow shall the
betrothal be; and on the third day the Lady Mary shall r