In the level open space where the feast was spread the servants had placed trestles, over which long boards were fitted.  Benches covered with silken cushions served as seats.  The cloth was of linen dyed scarlet in the rare Montpellier dye, and over it was spread another of white linen, embroidered in open-work squares.  At each end of the table was a large silver dish, one containing a meat-pie, the other a pie made of the meat of various fowls with savory seasoning.  On silver plates were slices of cold chicken and meat.  Glass trays contained salad, lettuces, radishes and olives.  The salt, pepper and spices were in silver and gold dishes of fanciful shapes.  Here and there were crystal vases of freshly gathered roses and violets.  On the corners of the table were trenchers of white bread—­wastel, cocket, manchet, of fine wheaten flour,—­and brown bread of barley, millet and rye.  For dessert there were the spicy apples of Auvergne, Spanish oranges, raisins, figs, little sweet cakes, wine white and red, and nuts in a great carved brass dish of the finest Saracen work, with carved wood nut-crackers.  Ewers and basins of decorated brass, for washing the hands after the meal, were ready.  Eastern carpets and cushions, placed upon a bank under the trees, would afford a place where the company, after dining, might linger for hours, enjoying the gay give-and-take of conversation, the songs of artists who knew their art, and the constant musical undertone of winds, birds and waters.  The surprise which Ranulph had planned was designed for the moment when the guests began to dally with nuts and wine, reluctant to leave the table.  Some one called upon the troubadour to sing.  He had counted upon this.  Rising, he bowed to the Count and his daughter, and began: 

 “In the month of Arcady
 Green the summer meadows be,—­
 When the dawn with fingers light
 Lifts the curtains of the night,
 And from tented crimson skies
 Glorious doth the sun arise,—­
   Who are these who give him greeting,
   On swift wings approaching, fleeting,—­
 Who but birds whose carols bring
 Homage to their gracious King! 
 “Lo! the Queen of Arcady
 From the land of Faery
 Gladdens our adoring eyes,
 Fair and gentle, sweet and wise,
 Her companions here on earth
 Love and Loyalty and Mirth! 
   Who, the joyous tidings hearing,
   Fly to greet her, now appearing? 
 Aphrodite’s pigeons fleet,—­
 See, they gather at her feet.”

No one had heard a low clear call from the boughs of the tree overhead, or seen the figure of a small boy in a fantastic tunic of goatskins, slipping down the tree-trunk near Ranulph.  As the company rose from the table the troubadour moved away a little, still thrumming his refrain, and in that moment there was a whir of sudden wings and the air was dark with pigeons.  As the birds alighted Lady Philippa was surrounded by the pretty creatures, and in a graceful little speech Ranulph presented to her Peirol as a Faun, the Master of the Pigeons, who had brought them to do homage to their sovereign lady.