is to cage the lion?" said the Chancellor,
pertinently.

The marshal of France raised his hand from the table as if commanding
silence. His suave and courtier-like demeanour had changed into
something more natural to the man. There came the gaunt forward thrust
of a wolf on the trail into the set of his head. His long teeth
gleamed, and his eyelids closed down upon his eyes till these became
mere twinkling points.

"I have that at hand which hath already tamed the lion," he said, "and
is able to lead him into the cage with cords of silk."

He rose from the table, and, going to a curtain that concealed the
narrow door of an antechamber, he drew it aside, and there came forth,
clothed in a garment of gold and green, close-fitting and fine,
clasped about the waist with a twining belt of jewelled snakes, the
Lady Sybilla.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE LION TAMER

On this summer afternoon the girl's beauty seemed more wondrous and
magical than ever. Her eyes were purple-black, like the berries of the
deadly nightshade seen in the twilight. Her face was pale, and the
scarlet of her lips lay like twin geranium petals on new-fallen snow.

Gilles de Retz followed her with a certain grim and ghastly pride, as
he marked the sensation caused by her entrance.

"This," he said, "is my lion tamer!"

But the girl never looked at him, nor in any way responded to his
glances.

"Sybilla," said de Retz, holding her with his eyes, "these gentlemen
are with us. They also are of the enemies of the house of
Douglas--speak freely that which is in your heart!"

"My lords," said the Lady Sybilla, speaking in a level voice, and with
her eyes fixed on the leaf-shadowed square of grass, which alone could
be seen through the open window, "you have, I doubt not, each declared
your grievance against William, Earl of Douglas. I alone have none. He
is a gallant gentleman. France I have travelled, Spain also, and
Portugal, and have explored the utmost East,--wherever, indeed, my
Lord of Retz hath voyaged thither I have gone. But no braver or more
chivalrous youth than William Douglas have I found in any land. I have
no grievance against him, as I say, yet for that which hath been will
I deliver him into your hands."

One of the men before her grew manifestly uneasy.

"We did not come hither to listen to the praises of the Earl of
Douglas, even from lips so fair as yours!" sneered Crichton the
Chancellor, lifting his eyes one moment from th