h the swift and furtive
suspicion of one who, while setting one trap, fears to be taken in
another.

But the lady who rode on a white palfrey between these two took all
men's regard, even in the presence of a marshal of France and a herald
extraordinary of the King of Scots.

The Earl Douglas, having let his eyes once rest upon her, could not
again remove them, being, as it were, fixed by the very greatness of
the wonder which he saw.

It was the lady of the pavilion underneath the pines, the lady of the
evening light and of the midnight storm.

She was no longer clothed in simple white, but arrayed like a king's
daughter. On her head was a high-peaked coiffure, from which there
flowed down a graceful cloud of finest lace. This, even as the Earl
looked at her, she caught at with a bewitching gesture, and brought
down over her shoulder with her gloved hand. A close-fitting robe of
palest blue outlined the perfections of her body. A single
fleur-de-lys in gold was embroidered on the breast of her white
bodice, and the same device appeared again and again on the white
housing of her palfrey.

She sat in the saddle, gently smiling, and looking down with a
sweetness which was either the perfection of finished coquetry or the
expression of the finest natural modesty.

Strangely enough, the first thought which came to the Earl Douglas
after his surprise was one in which triumph was blended with mirth.

"What will the Abbot and Malise think of this?" he said, half aloud.
And he turned him about in order to look upon the face of his master
armourer.

He found Malise MacKim ashen-pale and drawn of countenance, his mouth
open and squared with wonder. His jaw was fallen slack, and his hands
gripped one upon the other like those of a suppliant praying to the
saints.

The Earl smiled, and bidding Malise unlace his helmet in compliment to
his guests, he stood presently bareheaded before them, his head
appearing above the blackness of his armour, bright as a flower with
youth and instinct with all the fiery beauty of his race.

It was James the Gross who came forward to act as herald. "My
well-beloved nephew," he began in somewhat whining tones, "I bring you
two royal embassies, one from the King of France and the other from
the King of Scotland. I have the honour to present to you the Marshal
Gilles de Retz, ambassador of the most Christian King, Charles the
Seventh, who will presently deliver his master's message to you