“Lad, speak out; it is a woman.”
Fulk did not stir.
“True, a woman. I thought her dead. I saw her—living—to-day.”
“Isoult—Isoult of the Rose? She who——?”
“Isoult—aye, Isoult. In the hands of these scullions! God—I’ll not suffer it! She could have betrayed me to-day—you, all of us—but her heart kept troth. Knollys, I must out, beat the city——”
Knollys’ hand gripped his shoulder.
“Fulk, son Fulk, patience. What could you do, alone, lost in the first alley? Leave it to me. I have spies. They shall go and search.”
“But to stand here kicking my toes against the wall!”
“Swear troth to us for one more day. By God, lad, I love the fettle in you. You are my hawk. I flew you. Never a royal bird flew better. Comrade in arms——!”
They gripped hands of a sudden.