t rocks, or turning sharply into an
unseen way.

Mora rode as in a dream. "I ride to my husband," she cried to the
forest, "and I choose to ride alone!" And once she sang, in an
irrepressible burst of praise: "_Jesu dulsis memoria_!" Then, when she
fell silent: "_Dulsis_! _Dulsis_!" carolled unseen choristers in leafy
clerestories overhead. And each time Icon heard her voice, he laid
back his ears and cantered faster.

Not far from her journey's end, the way lay through a deep gorge in the
very heart of the pine wood.

Here the sun's rays could scarce penetrate; the path became rough and
slippery; a hidden stream oozed up between loose stones.

Icon picked his way, with care; yet even so, he slipped, recovered, and
slipped again.

With a sudden rush, some wild animal, huge and heavy, went crashing
through the undergrowth.

Stealthy footsteps seemed to keep pace with Icon's, high up among the
tree trunks.

Yet this valley of the shadow held no terrors for the woman whose heart
was now so blissfully at rest.

Having left behind forever the dark vale of doubt and indecision, she
mounted triumphant on the wings of trust and certainty.

"I ride to my husband," she whispered, as if the words were a charm
which might bring the sense of his strong arms about her, "and I choose
to ride alone."

With a gentle caress on the arch of his snowy neck, and with soft words
in the anxiously pointing ears, she encouraged the palfrey to go
forward.

At length they rounded a great grey rock jutting out into the path, and
the upward slope of a mossy glade came into view.

With a whinny of pleasure, Icon laid back his ears and broke into a
swift canter.

Up the glade they flew; out into the sunshine; clear into the open.

Here was the moor! Here the highroad, at last! And there in the
distance, the grey walls of Hugh's castle; the portals of home.

* * * * * *

It was the Knight's trusted foster-brother, Martin Goodfellow, amazed,
yet smiling a glad welcome, who held Icon's bridle as Mora dismounted
in the courtyard.

She fondled the palfrey's nose, laying her cheek against his neck. For
the moment it became imperative that she should hide her happy eyes
even from this faithful fellow, in whom she had learned to place entire
confidence.

"Icon, brave and beautiful!" she whispered. "Thou hast carried me here
where I longed to be. Thy feet were well-nigh as swift as my desire."