When he spoke, his words were even gracious:
"I think the Lord of Ivarsdale has the right of it. The crime the boy purposed
was not carried out; and in each case, Lord Sebert was his captor. I am
content to trust to his wardership."
Sebert's frank face betrayed his surprise at the complaisance, but he gave his
pledge and his thanks with what courtliness he could muster, and releasing his
passive prisoner, pushed her gently into the safe-keeping of the old cniht.
Yet he was not so obtuse as to step back, as though the incident were closed;
he read the King's inflection more correctly than that. Holding himself
somewhat stiff in the tenseness of his feelings, he stood his ground in silent
alertness.
A rustle of uneasiness crept the round of the assembled nobles. Only the
monarch's bland composure remained unruffled. Advancing with the deliberate
grace that so well became his mighty person, he seated himself upon a
convenient boulder and signed the figure in the shadow to draw nearer.
As it obeyed, every one of the yeomen-soldiers strained his eyes in that
direction, as though hoping to surprise in the great traitor's face some
secret of his power, the power that had made three kings as wax between his
fingers! But just short of the fire-glow the Gainer paused, and the hooded
cloak which shrouded him merged him hopelessly into the shadow.
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