place and hour, but the business with which I had been
charged by my master was one that must be carried out unattended. Also I
had no enemies whom I knew of, and was armed with the very sword that I
had taken from de Garcia in the lane at Ditchingham, the sword that had
slain my mother, and which I bore in the hope that it might serve to
avenge her. In the use of this weapon I had grown expert enough by now,
for every morning I took lessons in the art of fence.

My business being done I was walking slowly homeward, and as I went I
fell to thinking of the strangeness of my present life and of how far it
differed from my boyhood in the valley of the Waveney, and of many other
things. And then I thought of Lily and wondered how her days passed, and
if my brother Geoffrey persecuted her to marry him, and whether or no
she would resist his importunities and her father's. And so as I walked
musing I came to a water-gate that opened on to the Guadalquivir, and
leaning upon the coping of a low wall I rested there idly to consider
the beauty of the night. In truth it was a lovely night, for across all
these years I remember it. Let those who have seen it say if they know
any prospect more beautiful than the sight of the August moon shining on
the broad waters of the Guadalquivir and the clustering habitations of
the ancient city.

Now as I leaned upon the wall and looked, I saw a man pass up the steps
beside me and go on into the shadow of the street. I took no note of him
till presently I heard a murmur of distant voices, and turning my head I
discovered that the man was in conversation with a woman whom he had met
at the head of the path that ran down to the water-gate. Doubtless it
was a lovers' meeting, and since such sights are of interest to all, and
more especially to the young, I watched the pair. Soon I learned that
there was little of tenderness in this tryst, at least on the part of
the gallant, who drew continually backwards toward me as though he would
seek the boat by which doubtless he had come, and I marvelled at this,
for the moonlight shone upon the woman's face, and even at that distance
I could see that it was very fair. The man's face I could not see
however, since his back was towards me for the most part, moreover he
wore a large sombrero that shaded it. Now they came nearer to me, the
man always drawing backward and the woman always following, till at
length they were within earshot. The woman was plead