gait was delicate and sure as that of an antelope, and her eyes were
beautiful and full of pride. There she stood before the king, looking
round her like a stag. Seeing her thus, Owen understood how it came
about that she held two men so strangely different in the hollow of her
hand, for her charm was of a nature to appeal to both of them--a charm
of the spirit as well as of the flesh. And yet the face was haughty, a
face that upon occasion might even become cruel.

"You sent for me and I am here, O King," she said, in a slow and quiet
voice.

"Listen, girl," answered the king. "A while ago the Prince Hafela, my
son, named you as her who should be his queen, whereon you were taken
and placed in the House of the Royal Women, to abide the day of your
marriage, which should be to-morrow."

"It is true that the prince has honoured me thus, and that you have been
pleased to approve of his choice," she said, lifting her eyebrows. "What
of it, O King?"

"This, girl: the prince who was pleased to honour you is now pleased to
dishonour you. Here, in the presence of the council and army, he prays
of me to annul his sealing to you, and to send you back to the house of
your guardian, Hokosa the wizard."

Noma started, and her face grew hard.

"Is it so?" she said. "Then it would seem that I have lost favour in the
eyes of my lord the prince, or that some fairer woman has found it."