"Mr. Breakspear, you must not do that," she said in a trembling voice, and hastily withdrawing her hand from his. Her face was pale: a strange look came into her eyes, and she turned and hurried away. Idris, trembling lest he should have given offence, watched her till she was out of sight, and then went slowly back to Wave Crest.
Verily he was a fortunate fellow! Fresh from a charming tête-à-tête with one fair lady he was now to have the like with a second: for, on passing through the garden-gate, he saw Beatrice Ravengar reading in a low chair beneath the apple-trees—Beatrice, the sea-king's daughter, the descendant of that very Viking whose bones reposed in Ormfell!
Her heart beat more quickly as Idris approached. He, little divining the cause of the colour that played so enchantingly over her cheek, thought Godfrey's sister a very pretty maiden indeed. True, she lacked the dark starry beauty of Lorelie—Idris' tastes ran in favour of brunettes—yet there was a subtle witchery in Beatrice's soft grey eyes and winsome expression; in her sunny hair: and in her graceful figure, set off as it then was, by a dainty dress of soft muslin.
"My name, being Breakspear," said he, with mock sternness, as he took a seat beside her, "you will not be surprised to learn that I have a lance to break with you."
"And what have I done that is amiss?" asked Beatrice, outwardly smiling, but inwardly uneasy: for some secret feeling told her that he had just left the presence of Mademoiselle Rivière, and she feared lest that lady should have said something to prejudice her in the eyes of Idris. A fair return, for had not she herself let fall in Idris' presence words unfriendly to Lorelie?
"You have committed the sin of omission in not telling me that the armorial shield of the Ravengars is decorated with a silver ring."
"I am aware that a ring figures in their coat of arms," said Beatrice, with wide, wondering eyes, "but where is my fault in not telling you of it? Surely," she added, with a sudden intuition as to his meaning, "surely you do not mean to say that there is some connection between your runic ring and the Ravengar device?"
Idris' reply was to repeat the story he had just heard.
"This is all new to me," said Beatrice, when he had finished, "but then I never was a Ravengar. I am the daughter of my mother, and have taken little, if any, interest in the genealogy and family traditions of my ancestors, the belted earls."