"Paid!" almost shouted Edgar. "Not one groat will I accept. How can'st think of such a thing, Beatrice?"
"Dost scorn payment, Edgar? Mayhap thou wilt one day be glad to accept what ye now so scorn."
"Never, Beatrice!" cried Edgar emphatically. "'Tis true I am landless, but at any rate I can always ride away and join the league of the 'knights of the sword', or one of the other bands of knights who spend their lives defending Christendom from the inroads of the Turks. Long have I thought that with no means but a ready sword such might be my fate."
"Dost then look forward to warring all thy days?" asked Beatrice, a look of trouble coming into her face for the first time.
"Nay, how can I, with Father Armand's words still ringing in my ears? But----" and Edgar relapsed again into a silence which his companion for a long time did not care to disturb.
The following day they arrived at Bordeaux.
CHAPTER XXIII
Sir John's Choice
Our story draws to a close, and we must pass over the eager welcome that awaited the travellers from Sir John and his daughter, who were still at the inn. Sir John, indeed, had not progressed so rapidly as had been expected. His fever and his wounds had left him very weak, and he had but the day before resolved to leave France and return to Wolsingham until such time as he might have completely recovered. Gertrude, of course, was to go with him, and now that Beatrice had returned she, too, must accompany her guardian, and the visit to Faucigny had perforce to be completely abandoned.
With Edgar a knight, there was no question as to his movements. It was obvious that his duty was to join the earl's force without delay.