ir
and beard had become white as snow, his face was worn to a shadow; soon
he vanished again like a restless ghost. And now the sun went down, and
the moon rose above the wood, and silvered the rose-garden around
Geoffrey's tower. The birds were silent, but the bull-frogs in the moat
seemed to croak the louder, and in the distance a nightingale's song
was heard. It was so light in the tower that the youth could read every
letter in his parchment book, but he knew not what he was reading.

Another hour passed away, and yet another, and then light and rapid
steps along the narrow path woke the listener out of his trance. He
rushed to the door and threw it open wide, and saw with amazement not
only the one that his heart foretold, but her friend also beside her on
the threshold. They greeted him with a silent nod, and it was only when
they had passed into his narrow chamber that Garcinde shyly spoke, "You
see that I keep my word, cousin, but have you not in the course of the
day changed your mind? Do you not regret what you said to me this
morning?" and as he looked at her with mute enquiry she blushingly
continued: "That you loved me, Jaufret, loved me more than your life,
and would devote that life to me in sorrow until death. You may speak
out your heart openly, this faithful friend knows all. She knew even
earlier than I did myself that my heart belonged to thee, as thine to
me. Oh, Jaufret, even at La Vaquiera, when we spoke by night about the
stars, what made me so still and so sad was that I kept saying to
myself, Is there no place amongst those countless orbs where he and I
may belong to each other? Must I lose him whom I have only just
regained? For I foresaw too clearly that my heart and my hand would not
long remain my own. And God is my witness I was resolved to obey my
father, had he betrothed me to any worthy husband, however distasteful
he might have proved. But to fall a victim in an unholy hour to the
mere chance of the dice, that cannot be God's will, though he has
commanded us to honour father and mother; for I have in dreams seen my
mother weeping over me, and I know that were she still living, she
would go with me into poverty rather than give me to such a husband.
And therefore am I come to thee, my beloved, and if thou art in earnest
as I believe and know thou art, I will in this very hour before God and
this witness, take thee for my husband, and fly forth with thee into
the wide world. And sure am