ere Hynde Horn has
come from a far countrie to see why the diamonds in the ring given him
by his own true love have grown pale and wan. He hears that the king's
daughter Jean has been married to a knight these nine days past.

'But unto him a wife the bride winna be,
For love of Hynde Horn, far over the sea.'

He therefore borrows the old beggar's garments and hobbles to the king's
palace, where he petitions the porter for a cup of wine and a bit of
cake to be handed him by the fair bride herself.

'"Good porter, I pray, for Saints Peter and Paul,
And for sake of the Saviour who died for us all,
For one cup of wine and one bit of bread,
To an auld man with travel and hunger bestead.

And ask the fair bride, for the sake of Hynde Horn,
To hand them to me so sadly forlorn."
Then the porter for pity the message convey'd,
And told the fair bride all the beggar man said.'

The curtain went up again. The porter, moved to pity, has gone to give
the message to his lady. Hynde Horn is watching the staircase at the
rear of the stage, his heart in his eyes. The tapestries that hide it
are drawn, and there stands the king's daughter, who tripped down the
stair--

'And in her fair hands did lovingly bear
A cup of red wine, and a farle of cake,
To give the old man for loved Hynde Horn's sake.'

The hero of the ballad, who had not seen his true love for seven long
years, could not have been more amazed at the change in her than was
Ronald Macdonald at the sight of the flushed, excited, almost tearful
king's daughter on the staircase, Lady Ardmore's diamonds flashing from
her crimson satin gown, Lady Ardmore's rubies glowing on her white
arms and throat; not Miss Dalziel, as had been arranged, but Francesca,
rebellious, reluctant, embarrassed, angrily beautiful and beautifully
angry!

In the next scene Hynde Horn has drained the cup and dropped the ring
into it.

'"Oh, found you that ring by sea or on land,
Or got you that ring off a dead man's hand?"
"Oh, I found not that ring by sea or on land,
But I got that ring from a fair lady's hand.

As a pledge of true love she gave it to me,
Full seven years ago as I sail'd o'er the sea;
But now that the diamonds are changed in their hue,
I know that my love has to me proved untrue."'

I never saw a prettier picture of sweet, tremulous womanhood, a more
enchanting, breathing image of fidelity, than Franc