Gilbert perceived a stately head under a hat, when all were uncovered, and a blue sash. He saw the royal glance, cold and penetrative, before which all bowed and heads were bared. Fascinated, intoxicated, panting and frozen, he forgot to lift his hat. A violent blow drew him from his ecstasy; his hat had been knocked off with the stroke of a soldier's halberd.
"I beg pardon," he stammered. "I am fresh from the country."
"Then learn that you must salute all the royal carriages, whoever may be in
them," said the halberdier gruffly. "If you do not know the emblem of the lilyflower, I will teach you."
"You need not. I know," said Gilbert.
The royal equipages passed in a prolonged line. Gilbert gazed on them so intently that he seemed stupefied.
At the Royal Abbey doors they stopped successively to let the noblemen and ladies alight. These setting-down movements caused halts of a few minutes.
In one of them Gilbert felt a burning dart rush through his heart.
He was dazzled so that all was effaced in his sight, and so violent a shivering overwhelmed him that he was forced to catch at the branch not to tumble off.
Right in front of him, not ten paces off, in one of the vehicles with the lily brand which he had been advised to salute, he perceived the splendidly luminous face of Andrea Taverney; she was clad in white, like an angel or a ghost.