s you here?"

"The fortune that brings me here is not good. Listen, my friend. We were
married within a few years of each other, and similar fates have made
us widows. For in these times of chivalry the best perish first, and in
order to live long one must be a monk. When you became a mother I had
already been one for two years. Your daughter Honey-Bee is lovely as the
day, and my little George is good. I love you and you love me. Know then
that I have found a white rose on the cushion of my _prie-Dieu_. I am
about to die; I leave you my son."

The Duchess knew what the white rose meant to the ladies of
Blanchelande. She began to weep and in the midst of her tears she
promised to bring up Honey-Bee and George as brother and sister, and to
give nothing to one which the other did not share.

Still in each other's arms the two women approached the cradle where
little Honey-Bee slept under light curtains, blue as the sky, and
without opening her eyes, she moved her little arms. And as she spread
her fingers five little rosy rays came out of each sleeve.

"He will defend her," said the mother of George.

"And she will love him," the mother of Honey-Bee replied.

"She will love him," a clear little voice repeated, which the Duchess
recognised as that of a spirit which for a long time had lived under the
hearth-stone.

On her return to her manor the lady of Blanchelande divided her jewels
among her women and having had herself anointed with perfumed ointments
and robed in her richest raiment in order to honour the body destined to
rise again at the Day of Judgment, she lay down on her bed and fell
asleep never again to awaken.

III

Wherein begins the love of George of Blanchelande and Honey-
Bee of Claride

Contrary to the common destiny which is to have more goodness than
beauty, or more beauty than goodness, the Duchess of Clarides was as
good as she was beautiful, and she was so beautiful that many princes,
though they had only seen her portrait, demanded her hand in marriage.
But to all their pleading she replied:

"I shall have but one husband as I have but one soul."

However, after five years of mourning she left off her long veil and her
black robes so as not to spoil the happiness of those about her, and
in order that all should smile and be free to enjoy themselves in her
presence. Her duchy comprised a great extent of country; moorlands,
overgrown by heather, covered the desolate expa