"
Eleanor came a step nearer and spoke very quietly and kindly.
"You are wrong," she said. "Sir Gilbert is sent by the King to take me
as a prisoner, that I may be carried away to Jerusalem this very night.
Come, you shall hear the voices of the soldiers who are waiting for
me."
She led Beatrix to the door and lifted the curtain, so that through the
wooden panels the girl could hear the talking of many voices, and the
clank of steel. Then Eleanor brought her back.
"But he would not take me," she said, "and he warned me of my danger."
"No wonder--he loves you!"
"He does not love me, though I love him, and he has said so to-night.
And I know that he loves you and is faithful to you--"
Beatrix laughed wildly.
"Faithful! He? There is no faith in his greatest oath, nor in his
smallest word!"
"You are mad, child; he never lied in all his life to me or you--he
could not lie."
"Then he has deceived you, too--Queen, Duchess; you are only a woman,
after all, and he has made sport of you, as he has of me!" Again she
laughed, half furiously.
"If he has deceived me he has indeed deceived you," answered Eleanor,
"for he has told me very plainly that he loves you. And now I will not
stand between you and him, even in the mistake you made. I love him,
yes. I have loved him enough to give him up, because he loves you. I
love him so well that I will not take his warning and save myself from
the King's anger, and I know not what he and his monks will do to me.
Pages:
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350