took her wedding veil and laid it over
his body.

"All the while there was silence in the great hall, while men and women
watched the slim girl say farewell to the man she loved. They watched
almost as though they were under a spell. But as the veil fell into
place, Black George laughed a long laugh that rang through the room;
then he turned to his followers, and cried loudly, 'The women are
yours--take them as you will, all but that one who belongs to me.' He
gestured toward Helene and laughed again.

"Helene d'Harcourt stood erect and pointed her slender hand at Black
George. 'Wait,' she cried, and there was a quality in her voice that
made her listeners tremble. 'I shall belong to no one until my lover
comes for me, and till he comes, wo to you, Black George, who are well
named! Wo to you and to all men, for I curse you with a mighty curse,
the curse of a broken heart. And I curse all men for their black and
bitter deeds. Year after year, century after century, I will take my
vengeance for the wrongs I have suffered, and no man shall be free until
my lover comes again and we find bliss together.'

"And while the eyes of the whole hall were riveted upon her, she plunged
the dagger she had taken from her lover's belt into her heart. For a
second she stood swaying; then she crumpled and fell beside the English
lord.

"Black George caught her and held her in his arms. 'My curse upon you,
Black George!' she cried.

[Illustration: "My curse upon you, Black George," she cried.]

"Black George could also curse--'Never shall you leave Rougemont to find
your lover, and never shall he come, until----' and then his voice died
away as her head fell backward over his arm. The fair Helene was beyond
his reach.

"For a minute more the people in the great hall were paralyzed by the
force of the terrible words that they had heard, but with the girl's
death they were released from the spell and a fury swept over the men.
They rushed upon the women and dragged them forth. Black George took
Helene's body and carried it away, but where he buried her no one knew,
nor could any discover; for the next day he was found in the great hall
raving mad, and the people said that Helene's curse was a potent one,
that already it had wreaked vengeance on the one who had wronged her
most.

"From that day, the chateau was called Rougemont. The d'Harcourts were
all dead and the place fell into other hands. Then there grew up the
rumor that the