and then between the trees, and
her old hands trembled in her lap, for very joy. And before the day was
done his Grace, knocking on the door gently, brought his Duchess to
her.

"And 'twas you," said her Grace, standing close by her chair, and
holding the old hand between her own two, which were so white and
velvet warm, "and 'twas you who held him in your arms when he was but a
little new-born thing, and often sang him to sleep, and were so loved
by him. And he played here--" and she looked about the apartment with a
tremulous smile.

"Yes," said his Grace, with a low laugh of joyful love, "and now I
bring you to her, and 'tis my marriage-day."

Nurse Halsell gazed up at the eyes which glowed above her.

"'Tis what his Grace hath waited long for," she said, "and he would
have died an unwedded man had he not reached it at last. 'Tis sure what
God ordained." And for a minute she looked straight and steady into the
Duchess's face. "A man must come to his own," she said, and bent and
kissed the fair hand with passionate love, but her Grace lifted the old
face with her palm, and stooped and kissed it fondly--gratefully.

Then the Duke took his wife to the Long Gallery and they stood there,
he holding her close against his side, while the golden sun went down.

"Here I stood and heard that you were born," he said, and kissed her
red, tender mouth. "Here I stood in agony and fought my battle with my
soul the first sad day you came to Camylott." And he kissed her slow
and tenderly again, in memory of the grief of that past time. "And here
I stand and feel your dear heart beat against my side, and look into
your eyes--and look into your eyes--and they are the eyes of her who is
mine own--and Death himself cannot take her from me."

_CHAPTER XXIX_

_At the Cow at Wichben_

The happiness he had dreamed of was given to him; nay, he knew joy and
tenderness even more high and sweet than his fancy had painted. As
Camylott had been in his childhood so he saw it again--the most
beauteous home in England and the happiest, its mistress the fairest
woman and the most nobly loving. As his own father and mother had found
life a joyful thing and their world full of warm hearts and faithful
friends, so he and she he loved, found it together. The great house was
filled once more with guests and pleasures as in the olden time, the
stately apartments were thrown open for entertainment, gay cavalcades
came and went from town,