go,--since you are strong enough to stand unblenching in the face of
doom,--you shall not lose all without a price."

She opened her arms wide, and her eyes were glorious.

"I love you," she said, her lips thrilling towards him, "I love you,
love you, as I never thought to love any man upon this earth."




CHAPTER XXXI

THE GABERLUNZIE MAN


The next morning the Chancellor came down early from his chamber, and
finding Earl Douglas already waiting in the courtyard, he rubbed his
hands and called out cheerfully: "We shall be more lonely to-day, but
perhaps even more gay. For there are many things men delight in which
even the fairest ladies care not for, fearing mayhap some invasion of
their dominions."

"What mean you, my Lord Chancellor?" said the Douglas to his host,
eagerly scanning the upper windows meanwhile.

"I mean," said the Chancellor, fawningly, "that his Excellency, the
ambassador of France, hath ridden away under cloud of night, and hath
taken his fair ward with him."