Beatrix asked, and blushed winsomely.

And Anne blushed, too. "Nay, I do not know. . . One day my heart met
his words and all was peace and happiness."

The Countess sighed. "I wish it might be so with me," she said, and
tears were in her voice; "for lately I have grown very lonely--and
after you, this man comforts me the most."

"My sweet Beatrix," said the Queen, "Sir Aymer has you safe enough,"
and she put both arms around her and kissed her cheek.

And so, a moment later, the King found them; and with a smile, half
sympathy and half amusement, he said:

"Methinks, my dear, you and the Countess are wasting sadly your favors
on each other. And I am acquainted with many a gallant Knight--but one
especial--who would give his quarterings to be prisoner to her as you
are at this moment."

Beatrix's cheeks and brow went rosy and in sharp embarrassment she hid
her face upon the Queen's shoulder.

"Pardieu, my dear," said Richard, "I did not mean to distress you--yet
since I have said it, let me say a little more. As the Queen likes
you, so like I De Lacy, and I have given him these words: 'I make not
the match, but if you two wish it, none shall make it otherwise.' And
I give them now to you also. Nay, thank me not," as she arose and
curtsied low; "and while the match would please us well, yet it is our
pleasure to follow your desires. All we need is to know them, and that
in your own good time." And Richard took her hand and kissed it; then
flung aside the curtains and went out as abruptly as he had entered.

XIV

THE QUEEN OF ARCHERY

As the King appeared before the pavilion, a bugle rang out, the
soldiers presented halberds, and all talk ceased sharply.

"My good friends," said he, "I have brought you here to-day to test
your skill with a weapon that once made an English army the most feared
in all the world. In a word, I am curious to know how steadily you can
draw the cord and lay your bodies to the bow. Yonder are the butts,
and here the staves and the draw line. It is but a poor one hundred
paces to the nearest clout; and as that will be too beggarly a distance
for you, my lords, you shall use the second. The first has been placed
for the fair dames who are to shoot with you, if they will."

And taking the hand of the Queen, who had come forth with the Countess
of Clare and was standing beside him, he led the way to the near end of
the clearing where, on a rustic table built of bough