"Indeed?" said the Knight, raising his visor and showing a pleasant smile upon a pale face. "And are you not glad?"
"Ye-es!" said the Princess, with a great heave of her bosom as she looked at the disfigured spear.
The stranger alighted from his horse and came slowly toward the Princess. He was tall and strongly built, but he walked as one to whom every motion brings pain.
"Are you quite sure that the beast is dead?"
The Princess nodded.
"Quite."
"I wonder," said the Knight meditatively, "if you brought away his head or a claw?"
"No, I didn't; but I feel very sure. Men are so skeptical!" said the Princess, with some heat.
"Not at all," answered the Knight courteously, "only your quest is the same as mine, and I should be glad to know that it is over. I, too, am hunting him."
A beautiful expression swept over the Princess's face and into her blue eyes. She looked less like a baby than she had done at any time for seventeen years.