oodland creature which she had spied out basking on the sunny side of
a stump; and in the centre of the open, the Lady Elfgiva was amusing
herself with the treasures of red and gold leaves which silk-clad pages
were bringing from the thicket.

Gazing at her, Randalin's admiration mounted to wistfulness. "Were I
like that, I should be sure of his feeling toward me," she sighed.

Certainly, as she looked to-day sitting under the towering trees, it was
easy to understand why the King's wife had been named "the gift of the
elves." Every lovely thing in Nature had been robbed to make her, and
only fairy fingers could have woven the sun's gold into such tresses, or
made such eyes from a scrap of June sky and a spark of opal fire. From
the crown of her jewelled hair to the toe of her little red shoe, there
was not one line misplaced, one curve forgotten, while her motions were
as graceful as blowing willows.

When the pair came toward her over the carpet of leather-hued leaves,
she put out a white hand in beckoning. "Come here, my Valkyria, and let
me try if I can make you look still more like a gay bird from over the
East Sea."

"You have made me look a very splendid bird, lady," Randalin said
gratefully, as she knelt to receive the woodland crown.

Elfgiva patted the brown cheeks in acknowledgment, and also in delight
at the effect of her handiwork. "You are an honor to my art. Do you know
that the night before you came to me I dreamed I held a burning candle
in my hand, and that is known by everybody to be a sign of good. A
hundred plans are in my mind against the time that this peace shall
be over, and we are obliged to return to that loathful house where we
suffer so much with dulness that the quarrels of my little brats are the
only excitement we have."

Still kneeling for the white fingers to pat and pull at her head-dress,
Randalin looked up wonderingly. "Is it your belief that King Canute
will not carry out his intention, lady, that you say 'when the peace is
over'? I know for certain that it is expected to last forever."

"Forever?" The lady's voice was an echo of sweet mockery. "Take half a
kingdom when a whole lies almost within his reach? Now I will not deny
that the King is sometimes boyish of mood, but rarely that foolish." She
seemed to toss the idea from her with the leaves she shook from her robe
as she rose and moved back a step to see the wreath from a new point.
"Turn your head this way, child. Yes,