told you once before of my dislike for flattery."

"That was to Sir Ralph de Wilton . . . the night you walked with him on
the wall."

"True, so it was," she laughed; "but you were there and heard it."

He casually picked up a skein of silk that had slipped to the floor,
but finding her eyes upon him gave it to her straightway.

"Why not walk now on the ramparts with Sir Ralph?" he asked very low
and earnestly.

For an instant she seemed to hesitate; then she looked at him and shook
her head.

"I may not," she said. "I have promised the evening to Sir Aymer de
Lacy . . . for two hours of farewells."

But the two hours were very brief, indeed; for almost immediately De
Vivonne and De Wilton arrived, and shortly thereafter came Sir Richard
Ratcliffe and Sir Robert Brackenbury, and the talk became general. And
presently Richard himself entered; and when he withdrew the Duchess
went with him and the gathering broke up; and De Lacy got no more than
a casual word of farewell from the Countess.

In the morning all was activity. The bailey resounded with the stamp
of hoofs, the neighing of horses, and the rattle of armor, as the three
hundred and more men-at-arms assembled before the keep, awaiting the
order to fall in. The under officers stood apart conversing, but