"Indeed, I should do no such thing," said Mellifont, firing up again.
"You could not help it. Everyone must love him."
"That might not suit you, Isoult," said Belvisée.
"Why should it not? Would it prevent my love to know him loved? I should love him all the more."
"Hark!" cried Mellifont on a sudden. She laid her ear to the ground, then jumped to her feet.
"Come to the herd, come to the herd," she whispered.
Belvisée was on her feet also in a trice. Both girls were hot and bright.
"What disturbs you?" asked Isoult, who had heard nothing.
"Horsemen! quick, quick." They all ran between the trees to regain the deer. Isoult could hear no horses; but the sisters had, and now she saw that the deer had. Every head was up, every ear still, every nostril on the stretch. Listening now intently, faint and far she did hear a muffled knocking—it was like a beating heart, she thought. Whatever it was, the deer guessed an enemy. Upon a sudden stamp, the whole herd was in motion. Led by the hart-royal, they trotted noiselessly down the wood, till in the thick fern they lay still. The girls lay down with them.
The sound gained rapidly upon them. Soon they heard the crackling of twigs, then the swish of swept brushwood, then the creaking of girths. Isoult hid her face, lying prone on her breast.