Do you recall it?"
"I do, I do," she murmured fondly.
"And do you recall how I then swore myself your knight and ever your
champion? Little did we dream how the honour that I sighed for was to be
mine."
She made him no answer, her mind harking back to that first meeting on
which so often and so fondly she had pondered.
"I was thinking, too," he said presently, "of that man Gian Maria in the
plain yonder, and of this shameful siege."
"You--you have no misgivings?" she faltered, for his words had
disappointed her a little.
"Misgivings?"
"For being here with me. For being implicated in what they call my
rebellion?"
He laughed softly, his eyes upon the silver gleam of waters below.
"My misgivings are all for the time when this siege shall be ended; when
you and I shall have gone each our separate way," he answered boldly. He
turned to face her now, and his voice rang a little tense. "But for
being here to guide this fine resistance and lend you the little aid I
can---- No, no, I have no misgiving for that. It is the dearest frolic
ever my soldiering led me into. I came to Roccaleone with a message of
warning; but underneath, deep down in my heart, I bore the hope that mine
should be more than a messenger's part; that mine it might be to remain
by you and do such work as I am doing."
"Without you they would have forced me by now to surrender."
"Perhaps they would. But while I am here I do not think they will. I
burn for news of Babbiano.
Pages:
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264