"You forget that you need conceal nothing from me, dear lord.
I am not as those clowns below. You have even said that you found pleasure in
telling me your mind."
Sebert's hand was lifted from the red cloak to touch the thin cheek
caressingly. "I should be extreme ungrateful were I to say less, dear lad.
There is a man's courage in your boy's body, and I think a woman could not be
more faithful in her love--How! Are you cold that you shiver so? Pull the
corner of my cloak about you."
But the page cast it off impatiently. "No, no, it is nothing; no more than
that one of those men out there may have walked across the spot that is to be
my grave. Sooner would I bite my tongue off than interrupt you. I ask you not
to let it hinder your speech."
Again a kind of affectionate pity came into the young noble's face. "Does it
mean so much to you to hear that you have been faithful in your service?"
"It means--so much to me!" the boy repeated softly; and if the man's ear had
not been far afield, he might have divined the secret of the green tunic only
from the tenderness of the low voice. But when his mind came back to his
companion again, the lad was looking at him with a little smile touching the
curves of his wistful mouth.
"Do you know why this mishap which has occurred to you seems great luck for
me? Because otherwise it is not likely that you would have found out how true
a friend I could be.
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