ng
in his mind all day--a matter that he had dreamed of much with open eyes
during the long vigil of the night before.

The Earl looked up inquiringly. "What is it thou wouldst ask?" said he.

Myles's heart was beating quickly within him at the thought of his own
boldness, and as he spoke his cheeks burned like fire. "Sir," said he,
mustering his courage at last, "haply thou hast forgot it, but I have
not; ne'theless, a long time since when I spoke of serving the--the Lady
Alice as her true knight, thou didst wisely laugh at my words, and bade
me wait first till I had earned my spurs. But now, sir, I have gotten
my spurs, and--and do now crave thy gracious leave that I may serve that
lady as her true knight."

A space of dead silence fell, in which Myles's heart beat tumultuously
within him.

"I know not what thou meanest," said the Earl at last, in a somewhat
constrained voice. "How wouldst thou serve her? What wouldst thou have?"

"I would have only a little matter just now," answered Myles. "I would
but crave of her a favor for to wear in the morrow's battle, so that she
may know that I hold her for my own true lady, and that I may have the
courage to fight more boldly, having that favor to defend."

The Earl sat looking at him for a while in brooding silence, stroking
his beard the while. Suddenly his brow cleared. "So be it," said he.
"I grant thee my leave to ask the Lady Alice for a favor, and if she
is pleased to give it to thee, I shall not say thee nay. But I set this
upon thee as a provision: that thou shalt not see her without the Lady
Anne be present. Thus it was, as I remember, thou saw her first, and
with it thou must now be satisfied. Go thou to the Long Gallery, and
thither they will come anon if naught hinder them."

Myles waited in the Long Gallery perhaps some fifteen or twenty minutes.
No one was there but himself. It was a part of the castle connecting the
Earl's and the Countess's apartments, and was used but little. During
that time he stood looking absently out of the open casement into the
stony court-yard beyond, trying to put into words that which he had
to say; wondering, with anxiety, how soon the young ladies would come;
wondering whether they would come at all. At last the door at the
farther end of the gallery opened, and turning sharply at the sound, he
saw the two young ladies enter, Lady Alice leaning upon Lady Anne's arm.
It was the first time that he had seen them since the c