Et cet ombre, couchée et morte

Est la seule chose qui sorte

Tout le jour de cette maison."

Alphonse Karr.

CHAPTER XXII

RAIMBAUT DE VACQUEIRAS AND GUILHELM DES BAUX

There is a particular stately house off the main street that suggested itself as the house of the golden-haired lady of Les Baux. Her burial place pointed to her having belonged to a family of importance. She was probably the wife of some tempestuous seigneur, and her life, cut short so early, had doubtless been one of storm and peril.

We were filled with an immense desire to know more of her, and as we piled conjecture on conjecture, she gradually assumed a definite form and personality, and we felt towards her a sort of baffled sympathy.

We called her Alazais, for that name had pursued us since we began to interest ourselves in the annals of Provençal chivalry.