Falling to one knee, with the airy grace of a courtier who had never known the manners of the woods and wilds, de Sancerre pressed the girl’s hand to his smiling lips.
“Here, within sight of a column bearing the arms of France and Navarre,” he cried, gayly, “I forswear all allegiance to other kings than Love, and hereby pledge my life and heart and sword to the service of my queen, whose hand I kiss!”
The salt breeze from the playful sea, smiling beneath the bright June sun, brought to their ears at that moment the sound of a small boat scraping upon the beach, and the rumble of oars clattering against dry wood.
The sun was sinking toward the West, and the King’s Column, after a long interval of silence, spake complaining words to the Cross of Christ. “’Twill be more lonely for us now than heretofore,” grumbled the tall pillar, above which a shred of soiled canvas hung, heavy and limp, flapping lazily now and again against the wooden sides of the royal herald. “In yonder ship, whose sails resemble golden wings against the background of the deep, a man and maiden, seemingly most worthy of the blessings of this realm of mine, have taken flight and treated me with strange ingratitude. I marvel that they should in such wise spurn my royal master and the haughty arms of France.”
The Cross of Christ said nothing to soothe the wounded pride of the pompous pillar, towering above the humble emblem of an all-conquering faith in the crimson light of the waning day. Mayhap the Cross had no time, at that sad moment, to give to happy lovers, sailing through the glowing twilight toward a land of peace and joy. At its base lay a newly-made grave, within which slept the body of a youth who had loved God’s world and hated the tyranny of men.
THE END
By H. G. WELLS
WHEN THE SLEEPER WAKES. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 50.
“This romance of the twenty-second century,” as the London Daily Telegraph says, “will prove absolutely enthralling. The hero goes into a trance in 1900, and when he awakes two centuries later he finds that his property has increased so greatly that he owns more than half the world.”