“‘Christine,’ said I—and we were walking in the cloisters of the house about the hour of sundown when I spoke—‘I have not ceased to thank God for your escape last night. Surely it was fortunate that I heard of your danger and called the others to your help.’
“She laughed rather merrily, and not a little to my hurt, excellency.
“‘Oh,’ cried she, ‘I have heard it said that you had no great mind for the task, Andrea. Was it not your word that they should turn back and go to Jézero? Father Mark declares that your legs trembled all the way to the village!’
“‘A plague upon his lying throat!’ said I; ‘had not it been for my arm, his bones would even now lie in yonder wood. Learn, child, that the noblest courage may wear the poorest coat. Afraid!—I fear nothing in heaven or hell!’
“She laughed again at this, but becoming serious presently, she spoke very frankly to me, telling me of her predicament and of the great events that came out of it.
“‘I never thought that there was any danger in the woods,’ said she, ‘for I have been through them a hundred times on my way to Jajce. Last night, for the first time, the sun had begun to sink when I crossed the thicket, and then I heard a pattering in the bushes beside me, and my heart seemed to stand still when I remembered the stories I had heard about Gozzo, the shepherd, who was killed in that place last year. How I ran, Andrea! It seemed an age before I saw the lights of the village and heard the clatter of Count Paul’s sledge. When at last he saw me and I fell at his feet, and heard the moans of his horses and the shouts of the villagers, I could have cried my heart out to have brought such trouble upon him.’
“‘Think nothing of that,’ said I, ‘for I will venture he found the trouble very pleasant.’
“She blushed at this, turning away from me, yet denying none of my words.
“‘Per Baccho, Christine,’ I continued, ‘this is not news to hide from old Andrea. What said the Count, now, when you came home?’
“This direct question seemed to anger her. She turned a flushed face upon me, stamping with her foot and flashing fire with her pretty eyes.