“That is very likely,” I admitted.

“Think, then,” she cried, “how agreeably she will be surprised when she sees you! Unless indeed she has already lost her heart to some handsome fellow of Poitiers.”

“I trust not,” I said. “I trust not.”

“And why?” she queried sharply.

“I would not wish her to be unhappy also.”

She sat a moment silent at that.

“You mean that even if she has,” she asked at last, “you will hold her to the betrothal?”

“Oh, no!” I answered, instantly; “she would be free—that is, if she chose to be free.”

“If she chose to be?”

“Her father would hold her to her oath,” said I.