“Well, lad, thou hast spoken bravely and well,” said the Englishman, after a pause for thought.  “Perchance thy words are right; perchance it will be well to let matters rest as they are for the present.  We will have no solemn troth plight betwixt ye twain; but the maid shall be promised to none other these next four years, so that if thou carest to claim her ere she reaches woman’s estate, thou shalt find her waiting for thee.  And now I must say thee farewell, for tomorrow we ride away the way we came.  I trust to see thee at the king’s court one of these days, and to make known to his royal majesty the noble youth of Dynevor.”

Wendot was left alone then for some time, pondering the strange offer made to him, and wondering whether he had been foolish to refuse the promised reward.  He had never seriously thought of marriage, although in those days wedlock was entered upon very young if there were any advantage to be gained from it.  A lad of fifteen is seldom sentimental; but Wendot was conscious of a very warm spot in his heart for little Gertrude, and he knew that he should miss her sorely when she went, and think of her much.  Would it have been a sweet or a bitter thing to have felt himself pledged to a daughter of England?  He felt that he could not tell; but at least the decision was made now, and his words could not be recalled.

Just ere the sun set that summer’s day there came down the stone corridor which led to his room the patter of little feet, and he leaned up on his elbow with brightening eyes as the door opened and little Gertrude came dancing in.

“I thought I was to have been married to you, Wendot, before we went away,” she said, looking into his face with the most trusting expression in her soft dark eyes; “but father says you will come to marry me some day at the king’s court.  Perhaps that will be better, for I should like Eleanor and Joanna to see you.  They would like you so, and you would like them.  But do come soon, Wendot.  I do so like you; and I shall want to show you to them all.  And I have broken my gold coin in two —­ the one the king gave me once.  I got the armourer to do it, and to make a hole in each half.  You must wear one half round your neck, and I will wear the other.  And that will be almost the same as being married, will it not?  And you will never forget me, will you?”

Wendot let her hang the half of the coin round his neck by a silken thread, strange new thoughts crowding into his mind as he felt her soft little hands about him.  Suddenly he clasped them in both of his and pressed warm kisses upon them.  Gertrude threw her arms about his neck in a childish paroxysm of affection, saying as she did so between her kisses: 

“Now, it’s just like being husband and wife; and we shall never forget one another —­ never.”

CHAPTER V. THE KING’S CHILDREN.

“Dynevor —­did you say Dynevor?  O Eleanor, it must be he!”