me, and mayhap shall bring the
Duchess Helen in his train--to look upon the manner of thy dying--"

Now hereupon up started Beltane that his fetters clashed, and laughed
so sudden, so fierce and harsh, that Raoul the esquire clapped hand to
dagger and even Red Pertolepe started.

"Sweet lord," quoth Beltane, "noble messire Pertolepe, of thy boundless
mercy--of thy tender ruth grant unto me this boon. When ye shall have
done me to death--cut off this head of mine and send it to Helen--to
Helen the beautiful, the wilful--in memory of what befell at Blaen."

CHAPTER XXVI

OF THE HORRORS OF GARTHLAXTON KEEP, AND HOW A DEVIL ENTERED INTO
BELTANE

Six days came and went, and during all this time Beltane spake word to
no man. Every evening came Sir Pertolepe leaning on the arm of Raoul
the esquire, to view his prisoner with greedy eyes and ply him with
jovial talk whiles Beltane would lie frowning up at the mighty roof-beams,
or sit, elbows on knee, his fingers clenched upon that lock of
hair that gleamed so strangely white amid the yellow.

Now upon the seventh evening as he sat thus, came Sir Pertolepe
according to his wont, but to-night he leaned upon the shoulder of Beda
the Jester, whose motley flared 'gainst rugged wall and dingy flagstone
and whose bells rang loud and merry by contrast with the gloom.

Quoth Sir Pertolepe, seated upon the bench and smiling upon Beltane's
grim figure:

"He groweth fat to the killing, seest thou, my Beda, a young man and
hearty, very hale and strong--and therefore meet for death. So strong a
man should be long time a-dying--an death be coaxed and managed well.
And Tristan is more cunning and hath more love for his craft than ever
had Black Roger. With care, Beda--I say with care, messire Beltane
should die from dawn to sundown."

"Alack!" sighed the jester, "death shall take him over soon, as thou
dost say--and there's the pity on't!"

"Soon, Fool--soon? Now out upon thee for a fool ingrain--"

"Forsooth, sweet lord, fool am I--mark these bells! Yet thou art a
greater!"

"How, sirrah?"

"In that thou art a greater man, fair, sweet lord; greater in might,
greater in body, and greater in folly."

"Ha, would'st mock me, knave?"

"For perceive me, fair and gentle lord, as this base body of ours being
altogether thing material is also thing corruptible, so is it also a
thing finite, and as it is a thing finite so are its sensations, be
they of pleasure or pain, finite