They were some little distance up the
bank now, where trees screened them from the camp-fires. Suddenly the young
King made a leaping grab at a bough overhead and hung by it, looking down at
his companion with the face of a mischievous boy.
"How joyfully you will take my answer! I have sent to Northampton for them.
And I have bidden Elfgiva accompany them, with all her following of maids and
lap-dogs and beardless boys. Before the end of the week, I expect that the
Abbey guest-house will have the appearance of a woman's bower; and the monks
will have taken to the woods."
As his foster-brother stood gazing at him in speechless dismay, he laughed
maliciously. "Where are your manners, partner, that you do not praise my
foresight? Here am I eager to go to her to celebrate my victory; and yet
because I think it unadvisable for me to leave the camp, I remain like a rock
at my post. Where is your praise?"
"King," Rothgar said gravely, "is the truce going to last long enough to make
it worth while to fetch those trinkets here?"
His laughter vanishing, the King came to earth in both senses of the phrase.
"Now I do not know what you mean by that," he said. "You were with me on the
island. You heard what was said. You heard that we made peace together to last
the whole of our lives, in truth, longer; since he who outlives is to inherit
peacefully after him who dies.
Pages:
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204