straight and winding.
Beside one wall lay the longest walk of this little park, and up and
down this gravelled way, his hands clasped behind him, the young king
strode in more disturbance of mind than had ever before afflicted him.

"Oh, God save me; God save me!" he cried; "am I to be wedded to a
ghost? That woman is not even alive, to say whether she is willing or
no. Have I come to France to act the ghoul and rob the grave of its
due? Saints in heaven, help me! What am I to do? I cannot insult
France, yet I cannot chain my living body to that dead woman. Why is
not Talbot here? He said he would overtake me at Tours, and yet is he
not come. The Pearl of France, said he, the jewel of a toad's head,
say I. My honour staked, and to that unbreathing image of tallow! Is
this my punishment? Do the sins of our youth thus overtake us, and in
such ghastly form? Bones of my ancestors, I will not wed the grave,
though war and slaughter come of it. And yet--and yet, my faith is
plighted; blindly, unknowingly plighted. Why does not Talbot come? He
knew what my emotions would be on seeing that denizen of another
world, and so warned me."

These muttered meditations were suddenly interrupted by a clear sweet
voice from above.

"Ecossais! Scottish knight! Please rescue for me my handkerchief,
which I have, alas, let fall. Wrap a stone in it and throw it hither,
I beg of you."

The startled king looked up and beheld, peering over at him from the
battlements above, one of the most piquant and pretty, laughing faces
he had ever seen. Innocent mischief sparkled in the luscious dark
eyes, which regarded him from a seemingly inaccessible perch. A wealth
of dark tousled hair made a midnight frame for a lovely countenance in
the first flush of maidenly youth. Nothing could be more marked than
the difference between the reality which thus came unexpectedly into
view, and his sombre vision of another. There also sifted down to him
from aloft, whisperings that were evidently protests, from persons
unseen; but the minx who was the cause of them merrily bade her
counsellors be quiet. She must get her handkerchief, she said, and the
Scot was the only one to recover it. Fluttering white from one of the
lower branches was a dainty bit of filmy lace, much too fragile a
covering for the stone she had suggested. The despair which enveloped
the king was dispelled as the mist vanishes before the beaming sun.
He whipped out his thin rapier and deftl