" With her face hidden, she
stood there praying it until it rang so strong through her soul that it seemed
to her the Power could not but hear. And after He had heard, it would be so
simple,--if He was as helpful as Sebert said.
There was new resolution in her movements when at last she left the window and
went toward Elfgiva's bower. "I will try once more to entice her to the
Palace, so that I can get tidings," she determined. "Perhaps it will be easier
if at first I suggest no more than a ride, and after that allure her by
degrees. I wonder what kind of humor she is in."
It was not necessary to go far to obtain a hint as to that. Even as she
entered the passage, she heard from the bower-chamber the crash of a chair
overturned, the scramble of scurrying feet, and then screams and the thud of
blows.
"Now it is heard that she is not sulking among her cushions," Randalin
observed. "When her temper is up she is little afraid of doing things which
she else would not dare do."
According to that her expectations should have mounted high, as she drew aside
the door curtain, for the Lady of Northampton was far from sulking. Partially
disrobed, as she had sprung up from before her mirror, she was holding the
luckless Dearwyn with one hand while with the other she administered pitiless
punishment from a long club-like candle which she had snatched from its
holder.
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