y act of speaking, he hesitated. It was characteristic of him
to do so. Whether she instinctively felt that there was something
concealed from her, or guessed that the discontent she knew he had so
long endured was coming to a point, or feared lest what she had told him
might drive him to some ill-considered act, she begged him with all the
power of her love to do nothing hasty, or in despair, nothing that would
separate them. He threw his arms around her, he pressed her closely to
him, he trembled with the passion and the struggle within him.

"My lady calls for you, Mademoiselle," said a voice; it was Aurora's
maid who had kept watch. "She has asked for you some time since. Someone
is coming into the garden!"

There was no help for it; Aurora kissed him, and was gone before he
could come to himself. How long the interview had lasted (time flies
swiftly in such sweet intercourse), or how long he sat there after she
left, he could not tell; but when he went out already the dusk was
gathering, the sun had gone down, and in the east the as yet pale orb of
the moon was rising over the hills. As if in a dream he walked with
unsteady steps to the castle stable; his horse had been put back, and
the grooms suggested to him that it was better not to attempt the forest
at night. But he was determined; he gave them all the coin he had about
him, it was not much, but more than they had expected.

They ran beside him to the barrier; advising him as they ran, as he
would go, to string his bow and loosen an arrow in the girdle, and above
all, not to loiter, or let his horse walk, but to keep him at as sharp a
trot as he could. The fact that so many wealthy persons had assembled at
the castle for the feast would be sure to be known to the banditti (the
outlaws of the cities and the escaped serfs). They were certain to be on
the look out for travellers; let him beware.

His ears tingled and his head felt hot, as if the blood had rushed into
it (it was the violence of the emotion that he had felt), as he rode
from the barrier, hearing, and yet without conscious knowledge of what
they said. They watched him up the slope, and saw him disappear from
sight under the dark beeches of the forest.

CHAPTER XII

NIGHT IN THE FOREST

At first Felix rode quickly, but his horse stumbling, though accustomed
to the woods, warned him to be more careful. The passage of so many
horsemen in the last few days had cut up and destroyed the tr