They came on at a canter, and in two or three
minutes he could make out the figures of those best known to him--
Eleanor herself, Anne of Auch, Castignac, and the other two attendant
knights who were always in the Queen's train, and a score of others
riding behind by twos and threes. Gilbert sat motionless and watched
them, nor did it occur to him that he himself, sitting on the highest
boulder and dressed in a tunic of dark red, was a striking object in
the glow of the setting sun. But before she was near enough to
recognize him, Eleanor had seen him, and her curiosity was roused; a
few minutes more, and she knew his face. Then their eyes met.
She drew rein and walked her horse, still looking up, and wondering why
he gazed at her so fixedly, without so much as lifting his cap from his
head; and then, to her infinite surprise, she saw him spring to his
feet and disappear from view among the rocks. She was so much
astonished that she stopped her horse altogether and sat several
seconds staring at the ledge on which he had sat, while all her
attendants looked in the same direction, expecting Gilbert to appear
again; for several of them had recognized him, and supposed that he
would hasten down to salute the Queen.
But when he did not come, she moved on, and though her face did not
change, she did not speak again till the camp was reached, nor did any
of her party dare to break the silence.
Had she looked back, she might have caught sight of Gilbert's figure
walking steadily with bent head across the plain, away from the river
and from the camp, out to the broad solitude beyond.
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