ent had spoken. His
motley, as has been said, was of an unfamiliar pattern, but was none the
less striking, being made wholly of scarlet and gold. The Lady Elaine
could not have guessed that it was assumed as a tribute to the trappings
of her palfrey, for Le Jongleur's heart was most humble and loyal, though
leaping now with the joy of serving the fair Lady Elaine._

_The Lord of Content stood at the portal of the Castle to bid the retinue
Godspeed, and as the cymbals crashed out a sounding farewell, he
impatiently wiped away the mist, which already had clouded his vision.
Long he waited, straining his eyes toward the distant cliffs, where, one
by one, the company rode upward. The valley was in shadow, but the long
light lay upon the hills, changing the crags to a wonder of purple and
gold. To him, too, came the breath of apple bloom, but it brough no joy to
his troubled heart._

_What dangers lay in wait for Elaine as she fared forth upon her wild
quest? What monsters haunted the primeval forests through which her path
must lie? And where was the knight who should claim her innocent and
maidenly heart? At this thought, the Lord of Content shuddered, then was
quickly ashamed._

_"I am as foolish," he muttered, "as he in motley, who rides at the side
of Elaine. Surely my daughter, the child of a soldier, can make no
unworthy choice."_

_The cavalcade had reached the summit of the cliff, now, and at the brink,
turned back. The cymbals and the bugles pealed forth another sounding
farewell to the Lord of the Castle of Content, whom Elaine well knew was
waiting in the shadow of the portal till her company should be entirely
lost to sight._

_The last light shone upon the wonderful mass of gold which rippled to her
waist, unbound, from beneath her close-fitting scarlet cap, and gave her
an unearthly beauty. Le Jongleur held aloft his bauble, making it to nod
in merry fashion, but the Lord of Content did not see, his eyes being
fixed upon Elaine. She waved her hand to him, but he could not answer, for
his shoulders were shaking with grief, nor, indeed, across the merciless
distance that lay between, could he guess at Elaine's whispered prayer:
"Dear Heavenly Father, keep thou my earthly father safe and happy, till
his child comes back again."_

_Over the edge of the cliff and out upon a wide plain they fared. Ribbons
of glorious colour streamed from the horizon to the zenith, and touched to
flame the cymbals and the bug