"Well, madame, what then?"
"You will be shot like a dog; you are suspected; they are going to try your leper's gown with a crossbow bolt."
The man smiled optimistically.
"And you came to tell me this?"
"Yes."
"I thank you."
The wind moved through the trees; a fir-cone came pattering through the branches and fell at their feet. On the cliff a horn blared; its throaty cry came echoing faintly through the trees.
Flavian looked towards the gold of the west. His mood was calm and deliberate; he had his enthusiasms in leash for the moment, for there were more mundane matters in his mind--matters that were not savoury, however crimson shone the ideal years.
"I have thrown down the glove," he said, "for good or evil, honour or dishonour. I will tell you the whole truth."
Yeoland, watching his face, felt her impatient dreads goad her to the quick.