uld sit, like a white bird, on the battlement, and send out a quiet
song.

And then he fell asleep, and slept dreamlessly till the day came in
through the casements; when he sprang up, and joy darted into his heart,
as when a servitor fills a cup to the brim with rosy and bubbling wine.

Now that day, and the next, and for several days, Paul thought of little
else but the house in the wood and the maiden that dwelt there. Even
while he read or wrote, pictures would flash before his eye. He saw
Margaret stand before him, with the lute in her hand; or he would see
her as she had moved about serving him, or he would see her as she had
sate to hear him sing, or as she had stood at the door as he went
forth--and all with a sweet hunger of the heart; till it seemed to him
that this was the only true thing that the world held, and he would be
amazed that he had missed it for so long. That he was in the same world
with her; that the air that passed over the house in the wood was
presently borne to the castle; that they two looked upon the same sky,
and the same stars--this was all to him like a delicate madness that
wrought within his brain. And yet he could not bring himself to go
thither. The greater his longing the more he felt unable to go without a
cause; and yet the thought that there might be other men that visited
the Lady Beckwith, and had more of the courtly and desirable arts of
life than he, was like a bitter draught--and so the days went on; and
never had he made richer music; it seemed to rush from his brain like
the water of a full spring.

A few days after, there was a feast at the castle and many were bidden;
and Paul thought in his heart that the Lady Beckwith would perhaps be
there. So he made a very tender song of love to sing, the song of a
heart that loves and dares not fully speak.

When the hour drew on for the banquet, he attired himself with a care
which he half despised, and when the great bell of the castle rang, he
went down his turret stairs with a light step. The custom was for the
guests to assemble in the great hall of the castle; but they of the
Duke's household, of whom Paul was one, gathered in a little chamber off
the hall. Then, when the Duke and Duchess with their children came from
their rooms, they passed through this chamber into the hall, the
household following. When the Duke entered the hall, the minstrels in
the gallery played a merry tune, and the guests stood up; then the Duke