"And what said he?--He said, bowing his head low,--`Sister Joan La
Despenser is a great flatterer. Pray, accept my thanks. Henceforward,
she may perhaps find the calm glades of Shaftesbury more pleasant than
the bowers of Arundel. At least, I venture to beg that she will make
the trial.' And he went forth, calling to his hounds.

"Ay, went forth, without another word, and left her lying there at my
feet--her, to save whom one pang of pain I would have laid down my life.
And the portcullis was shut upon me. I was powerless to save her from
that man: I was to see her again no more. I did see her again no more
for ever. I waited till her sense came back, when she said she was not
hurt, and fell to excusing him. I felt as though I could have torn him
limb from limb. But that would have pained her.

"And then, when she was restored, I went forth from the Castle of
Arundel. I had been dismissed by the master; and dearly as I loved her,
I was too proud to be dismissed twice. So we took our farewell. Her
soft cheek pressed to mine--for the last time; her dear eyes looking
into mine--for the last time; her sweet, low voice blessing me--for the
last time.

"And what were her last words, saidst thou? I cannot repeat them
tearlessly, even now.

"`God grant thee the Living Water.'

"Those were they. She had spoken to me oft--though I had not much cared
to listen, except to her sweet voice--of something whereof this Giles
had told her; some kind of fairy tale, regarding this life as a desert,
and of some Well of pure, fresh water, deep down therein. I know not
what. I cared for all that came from her, but I cared nought for what
came only through her from Giles de Edingdon. But she said God had
given her a draught of that Living Water, and she was at rest. I know
nothing about it. But I am glad if anything gave her rest from that
anguish--even a fairy tale.

"Well, after that I saw her no more again. But now and then, when mine
hunger for her could no longer be appeased, I used to come to the
Convent of Arundel, and send word to Alina, thy nurse, to come to me
thither. And so, from time to time, I had word of her.

"The years passed on, and with them he grew harder and harder. He had
hated her, first, I think, from the fancy that my father had been after
some manner the cause of his father's violent end; and after that he
hated her for herself. And as time passed, and she had no child, he
hated her wor