Page:A C Doyle - The White Company.djvu/421

Rh 'It was the vision of the Lady Tiphaine,' said Sir Nigel after a pause. 'Marked you not how she said that the leader was one with a yellow beard, and how he fell before the gate? But how came it, Alleyne, that this woman, to whom all things are as crystal, and who hath not said one word which has not come to pass, was yet so led astray as to say that your thoughts turned to Twynham Castle even more than mine own?'

'My fair lord,' said Alleyne, with a flush on his weather-stained cheeks, 'the Lady Tiphaine may have spoken sooth when she said it; for Twynham Castle is in my heart by day and in my dreams by night.'

'Ha!' cried Sir Nigel, with a sidelong glance.

'Yes, my fair lord; for, indeed, I love your daughter, the Lady Maude; and, unworthy as I am, I would yet give my heart's blood to serve her.'

'By Saint Paul! Edricson,' said the knight coldly, arching his eyebrows, 'you aim high in this matter. Our blood is very old.'

'And mine also is very old,' answered the squire.

'And the Lady Maude is our single child. All our name and lands centre upon her.'

'Alas! that I should say it, but I also am now the only Edricson.'

'And why have I not heard this from you before, Alleyne? In sooth, I think that you have used me ill.' 'Nay, my fair lord, say not so; for I know not whether your daughter loves me, and there is no pledge between us.'

Sir Nigel pondered for a few moments, and then burst out a-laughing. 'By Saint Paul!' said he, 'I know not why I should mix in the matter; for I have ever found that the Lady Maude was very well able to look to her own affairs. Since first she could stamp her little foot, she hath ever been able to get that for which she craved; and if she set her heart on thee, Alleyne, and thou on her, I do not think that this Spanish king, with his threescore thousand men, could hold you apart. Yet this I will say, that I would see you a