be that rode so late in company
of armed men, and yet spoke of such great kinsfolk? That it might be the
holy Colette, then, as now, so famous in France for her miracles, and
good deeds, and her austerities, was a thought that arose in me. But the
holy Sister, as I had heard, never mounted a horse in her many
wanderings, she being a villein's daughter, but was carried in a litter,
or fared in a chariot; nor did she go in company with armed men, for who
would dare to lay hands on her? Moreover, the voice that I had heard was
that of a very young girl, and the holy Sister Colette was now entered
into the vale of years. So my questioning found no answer.

And now I heard light feet, as of some beast stirring and scratching in
the trees overhead, and there with a light jingling noise. Was it a
squirrel? Whatever it was, it raced about the tree, coming nearer and
going further away, till it fell with a weight on my breast, and,
shivering with cold, all strained like a harp-string as I was, I could
have screamed, but for the gag in my mouth. The thing crawled up my
body, and I saw two red eyes fixed on mine, and deemed it had been a wild
cat, such as lives in our corries of the north--a fell beast if brought
to bay, but otherwise not hurtful to man.

There the red eyes looked on me, and I on them, till I grew giddy with
gazing, and half turned my head with a stifled sob. Then there came a
sharp cry which I knew well enough, and the beast leaped up and nestled
under my breast, for this so dreadful thing was no worse than the violer
woman's jackanapes, that had slipped its chain, or, rather, had drawn it
out of her hand, for now I plainly heard the light chain jingle. This
put me on wondering whether they had really departed; the man, verily,
thirsted for my life, but he would have slain me ere this hour, I
thought, if that had been his purpose. The poor beast a little helped to
warm me with the heat of his body, and he was a friendly creature, making
me feel less alone in the night. Yet, in my own misery, I could not help
but sorrow for the poor woman when she found her jackanapes gone, that
was great part of her living: and I knew what she would have to bear for
its loss from the man that was her master.

As this was in my mind, the first grey stole into the sky so that I could
see the black branches overhead; and now there awoke the cries of birds,
and soon the wood was full of their sweet jargoning. This put so