“And thinkest thou that I will leave thee thus to languish after thou hast restored to me my brother?” asked Gaston hotly.  “Nay, lady, think not that of thine own true knight!  I will come again.  I vow it!  First will I to the English King, and tell in his ears a tale which shall arouse all his royal wrath.  And then will I come again.  It may not be this year, but it shall be ere long.  I will come to claim mine own; and all that is mine shall be thine.  Sweet Lady, wouldst thou look coldly upon me did I come with banners unfurled and men in arms against him thou callest thine uncle?  For the lands he holds were ours once, and the English King has promised that they shall one day be restored, as they should have been long ago had not this usurper kept his iron clutch upon them in defiance of his feudal lord.  Lady, sweet Constanza, tell me that thou wilt not call me thy foe if I come as a foe to the Lord of Navailles!”

“Methinks thou couldst never be my foe,” answered Constanza in a low voice, pressing her hands closely together; “and though he be mine uncle, and though he has given me a home beneath his roof, he has made it to me an abode of terror, and I know that he is feared and hated far and wide, and that his evil deeds are such that none may trust or love him.  I would not show ingratitude for what he hath done for me; but he has been paid many times over.  He has had all my jewels, and of these many were all but priceless; and he gives me but the food I eat and the raiment I wear.  I should bless the day that set me free from this life beneath his roof.  There be moments when I say in mine heart that I cannot live longer in such an evil place —­ when I have no heart left and no hope.”

“But thou wilt have hope now!” cried Gaston ardently.  “Thou wilt know that I am coming to claim mine own, and with it this little hand, more precious to me than all else besides.  Sweetest Constanza, tell me that I shall still find thee as thou art when I come to claim thee!  I shall not come to find thee the bride of another?”

He could not see her face in the dimness, but he felt her hand flutter in his clasp like a bird in the hand of one who has tamed it, and whom it trusts and loves.  The next moment his arm was about her slight figure, and her head drooped for a moment upon his shoulder.

“I shall be waiting,” she whispered, scarce audibly.  “How could I love another, when thou hast called thyself my knight?”

He pressed a passionate kiss upon her brow.

“If this is indeed farewell for the present hour, it is a sweet one, my beloved.  I little thought, as I journeyed hither today, what I was to find.  Farewell, farewell, my lady love, my princess, my bride.  Farewell, but not for ever.  I will come again anon, and then we will be no more parted, for thou shalt reign in these grim walls, and no more dark tales of horror shall be breathed of them.  I will come again; I will surely come.  Trust me, and fear not!”