"I was angry, too," he answered simply.
But womanlike, she answered him again.
"That was foolish. You should have taken me roughly in your arms and kissed me, as you did by the river long ago. Then I should have believed you, as I do now."
"But you would not believe my words, nor the Queen's," he said, "nor even when she gave herself up to the King, to prove herself true, would you believe her."
"If men only knew!" Beatrix laughed softly her little bird laugh that had the music of a spring day.
"If men knew—what?"
"If men knew—" She paused, and blushed, and laughed again. "If men knew how women love sweet words when they are happy, and sharp deeds when they are angry! That is what I mean. I would have given my blood and the Queen's kingdom for a kiss when you left me standing there."
"I wish I had known!" exclaimed Gilbert, happy but half perplexed.
"You ought to have known," answered the girl.
Her eyebrows were raised a little with the half-pathetic look he loved, while her mouth smiled.