“Will not my lord unhelm?”
A rich, mischief-loving laugh startled her for answer.
“Child, take the thing off if you will.”
The little shepherdess obeyed, and nearly dropped the helmet in the doing of it. A mass of gold fell rippling down over the violet surcoat; a pair of deep eyes looked up with a sparkling laugh; a satin upper lip and chin gave the lie to the nether part of the picture.
“Christ Jesu!” quoth the girl with the helmet, and again “Christ Jesu,” as though she could get no further.
Igraine caught her smock and drew her nearer.
“Come, little sister, kiss me for—‘thank you.’”
With a contradictory impulse the girl fell down on her knees and began to cry, with her brown hair tumbled in Igraine’s lap.
When persuasion and comforting had quieted her somewhat, she sat on the floor at Igraine’s feet, her round eyes big with an unstinted wonder. Even Igraine’s hunger and the devoir done upon the new milk could hardly persuade the girl that this being in armour was no saint, but a very real and warm-blooded woman. She even touched Igraine’s fingers with her lips, to satisfy herself as to the warmth and solidity of the slim strong hand. She had never heard of such a marvel, a woman, and a very beautiful woman, riding out as a man, and doing man’s bravest work with courage and cleverness. The girl made sure in her heart that Igraine was some princess at least, who had been blessed with miraculous power by reason of her maidenhood and the magic innocence of her mind.
Igraine talked to the girl and soon began to win her to less devotional attitude with that graciousness of manner that became her so well at such a season. She forgot herself for the time, in listening to this child of solitude. The girl’s father—an old man—had died two winters ago, and she had buried him with her own hands, under a tree in the dale. Since his death, she had lived on in the cabin, alone, a forest child nurtured in forest law. Every Sabbath, Renan, a shepherd lad in a lord’s service, would come over the hills and pass the day with her. They were betrothed, and the lord of those parts had promised Renan freedom next Christmastide; then Renan and Garlotte were to be married, and the cabin in the dale was to serve them as a home.