rious on that account. She was a very proud
girl.

Alone, those two who had loved so fondly gazed each at the work wrought
upon the other without a word said, the King all luminous with love, and
she all dewy. If soul spoke to soul ever in this world, said Richard's
soul, 'O Vase, that bearest the pledge of my love!' and hers, 'O Strong
Wine, that brimmest in my cup!'

He came forward and embraced her with his arm. He felt her heart beat,
he guessed her pride; he felt her thrill, he knew his own defeat. He
felt her so strong and salient under his hand--so strong, so
full-budded, so hopeful of fruit--that despair of her loss seized him
again, terrible rage. He sickened, while in her the warm blood leaped.
He wanted everything; she, nothing in the world. He, the king of men,
was the bond; she, the cast-off minion, she, this Jehane Saint-Pol, was
the free. So God, making war upon the great, rights the balances of this
world.

But he was extraordinarily gentle with her; he gripped himself and
throttled the animal close. Gaining grace as he went, his heart throve
upon its own blood. Balm was shed on his burning face, he sucked peace
as it fell. Then he, too, discerned the God near by; to him, too, came
with beating wings the pure young Love, that best of all, which hath no
needs save them of spending.

His voice was hushed to a boy's murmur.

'Jehane, ma mye, is it true?'

'I am the mother of a son,' she said.

'Give God the glory!'

But she said, 'He hath given it to me.' Her face was turned to where God
might be: Richard, looking down, kissed her on the mouth. Tremblingly
they kissed and long, not as young lovers, but as spouse and spouse,
drinking their common joy.

After a while his present troubles came thronging back, and he said
bitterly: 'Ah, child, thou art widowed of me while yet we both live. Yet
it was in thy power to be mother of a king.'

Said she, leaning her head on his breast, 'Every woman that beareth a
child is mother of a king; but not every woman's child hath a king to
his father. Thus it is with me, Richard, who am doubly blessed.'

'Ah, God!' he cried, poignantly concerned, 'Ah God, Jehane, see what
trammels I have enmeshed us in, thee in one net and me in another! So
that neither can I help thee, being roped down to this work, nor thou
thyself, trapped by my fault. How shall I do? Lo, my sin, my sin! I
cried Yea; and now cometh God, and, Nay, King Richard, He saith. The sin
is mine, and