"She hath been, for some years, at the court of his Majesty, King Louis."
Then there fell a silence between them, but no longer the silence of sympathy, for he was lost in recollection, and she in wondering doubt.
Presently he rose abruptly to his feet.
"I think, Mistress Barbara, 'twere well I should go and reconnoitre. I will soon return; but I would fain see, if possible, what our enemies are about. Are you afraid to stay here alone?"
"Afraid?" she asked in astonishment, "why, what should harm me?"
"Yes, 'twas a foolish question to ask you, Mistress Barbara, I might have known the answer," he replied admiringly.
He paused a moment, smiling down at her, turned with a nod, and vanished into the wood.
For some time after his departure Barbara lay still, nestling in the luxurious couch of moss, wrapt in dreams. But the fresh joy of the morning had passed, and her dreams grew less bright.
She remembered now for the first time the helplessness of her position; an outcast, with no shelter save such as Captain Protheroe might provide, no escape save through his contrivance, no protection save his arm; she was utterly dependent upon him.
And then she remembered, with a sudden hot rush of blood to her cheeks, that it was she herself who had brought this about.