r
yourself, and how bold for a stranger! If I were a man, I should wish to
do what you have done."

"It was a small thing," he answered, with a tingle of pleasure at these
sweet words of praise. "But you--what will you do?"

"There is a great oak near here, and I think that Bertrand will bring
the horses there, for it is an old hunting-tryst of ours. Then hey for
home, and no more hawking to-day! A twelve-mile gallop will dry feet and
skirt."

"But your father?"

"Not one word shall I tell him. You do not know him; but I can tell you
he is not a man to disobey as I have disobeyed him. He would avenge me,
it is true, but it is not to him that I shall look for vengeance. Some
day, perchance, in joust or in tourney, knight may wish to wear my
colors, and then I shall tell him that if he does indeed crave my favor
there is wrong unredressed, and the wronger the Socman of Minstead. So
my knight shall find a venture such as bold knights love, and my debt
shall be paid, and my father none the wiser, and one rogue the less in
the world. Say, is not that a brave plan?"

"Nay, lady, it is a thought which is unworthy of you. How can such as
you speak of violence and of vengeance. Are none to be gentle and kind,
none to be piteous and forgiving? Alas! it is a hard, cruel world, and I
would that I had never left my abbey cell. To hear such words from your
lips is as though I heard an angel of grace preaching the devil's own
creed."

She started from him as a young colt who first feels the bit. "Gramercy
for your rede, young sir!" she said, with a little curtsey. "As I
understand your words, you are grieved that you ever met me, and look
upon me as a preaching devil. Why, my father is a bitter man when he is
wroth, but hath never called me such a name as that. It may be his right
and duty, but certes it is none of thine. So it would be best, since you
think so lowly of me, that you should take this path to the left while
I keep on upon this one; for it is clear that I can be no fit companion
for you." So saying, with downcast lids and a dignity which was somewhat
marred by her bedraggled skirt, she swept off down the muddy track,
leaving Alleyne standing staring ruefully after her. He waited in vain
for some backward glance or sign of relenting, but she walked on with
a rigid neck until her dress was only a white flutter among the leaves.
Then, with a sunken head and a heavy heart, he plodded wearily down the
other path, wrot