and that would be the
end. Yet he would fight for it, and now that the fresh air had aroused
Esmay from her swoon, she crept to his side and sat there comforting
him.

Four hours later the keel grated on a pebbly shingle, and Constans,
looking about him with weary eyes, recognized the little bay, with its
fringing semicircle of trees. Here was the very log upon which he had
sat and dreamed of unutterable things that bright May morning in the
long ago, a dream from which he had awakened to make first acquaintance
with Quinton Edge.

A little way up the grassy glade a fire was burning, and there was the
savory odor of roasted meat in the air. Constans helped Esmay out of the
boat, and with stiffened limbs they dragged themselves up the forest
way. There was a little shriek, a rush of feet, and swishing skirts, and
Nanna's arms were about her sister, while Constans was looking into
Piers Minor's honest eyes.

Far in the north, a smoke as of a furnace ascended, and the sky was
darkened. But here the sun shone brightly, the grass was green
underfoot, the birds sang in the branches above their heads, and the
smell of the spring-tide was in the air. Truly, life and light are sweet
to him who has once walked in the shadow.

XXX

THE STAR IN THE EAST

It was in October of the same year that Constans and Esmay stood one day
in the court-yard of the Greenwood Keep, now restored and rebuilt.

His father's blood friends had helped generously in the rehabilitation
of his fortunes, and Constans had worked hard with his own hands. Now
the task was finished, and he had persuaded Esmay to ride over from the
River Barony and pronounce in person upon its merits. For let it be
known that Piers Minor had lost no time in bringing home his bride, and
both he and Nanna had insisted that Esmay must live with them. And Esmay
had accepted gratefully, for all that she was an heiress in her own
right, through inheritance of her uncle Hugolin's estate, and could have
bought and sold Piers Minor and Nanna, and all their holdings, ten times
over. But all of her red gold could not buy love, and Esmay was wise
enough to know this. Moreover, the River Barony was but twenty miles
distant from the Greenwood Keep, and at least twice every week Constans
rode over and spent the night. It was pleasant to hear him tell proudly
of the progress of the work; how yesterday the roofing of the
guard-house had been started, and how to-day they had turn