ghing, bright-faced
girl.

"I don't see that you are changed," she said, "except in your dress. You
speak softly and naturally, just as you used to do, and not a bit like
those little court fops, Uncle Talbot's pages. I am afraid you will
not want to be my knight any more, now that you are going to get great
honours at the war; for I heard my Uncle Talbot tell my lady mother that
he was sure you would gain great credit for yourself."

"I shall be always your knight," Walter said earnestly; "I told you I
should, and I never break my word. That is," he went on, colouring, "if
Dame Vernon makes no objection, as she well might."

"If I did not object before, Walter," she said smiling, "why should I do
so now?"

"It is different, my lady; before, it was somewhat of a jest, a sort
of childish play on the part of Mistress Edith, though so far as I was
concerned it was no play, but sober earnest.

"It needs no permission from me," Dame Vernon replied, "for you to wear
my daughter's colours. Any knight may proclaim any lady he chooses the
mistress of his heart, and a reigning beauty will often have a dozen
young knights who wear her colours. However, I am well content that one
who has done me such great service and who has shown such high promise
should be the first to wear the gage of my little daughter, and if in
after years your life fulfils the promise of your youth, and you remain
true to her gage, there is none among all the youths of the court whom
I would so gladly see at her feet. Remember," she said, as Walter was
about to speak, "her hand will not be at my disposal, but at that of the
king. His majesty is wont to bestow the hands of his wards upon those
who most distinguish themselves in the field. You have already attracted
his royal attention and commendation. Under Sir Walter Manny you will be
sure of opportunities of distinguishing yourself, and the king may well
be glad some day at once to reward your services and to repair a cruel
injustice by bestowing upon you the hand of the heiress of your father's
lands. If I mistake not, such a thought has even now crossed his
majesty's mind, unless I misinterpreted a glance which yesterday passed
between him and our sweet queen. I need not tell you to speak of your
hopes to none, but let them spur you to higher exertions and nobler
efforts. Loving my little Edith as I do, I naturally consider the prize
to be a high one. I have often been troubled by the thought that