"
"Why first--in thine ear, Yolande--my jewel is not--see!"
"How--how, alas! O most sweet lady--hast lost it? Thy royal amulet?"
"Bestowed it, Yolande."
"Benedicta! On whom?"
"A poor soldier. One that saved me i' the forest from many of Sir
Agramore's verderers--a man very tall and strong and brave, but dight in
ragged cloak and rusty mail--"
"Ragged? A thief--"
"Mayhap!"
"An outlaw--"
"Mayhap!"
"A wolf's-head--a wild man and fierce."
"True he is very wild and very fierce, but very, very gentle--"
"And didst give to such thy jewel? O Benedicta! The Heart-in-heart?"
"Freely--gladly! He begged it of me very humbly and all unknowing what it
signified--"
"O my loved Benedicta, alas!"
"O my sweet Yolande, joy!"
"But if he should claim thee, and he so poor and wild and ragged--"
"If he should, Yolande, if he should--
'He that taketh Heart-in-heart,
Taketh all and every part.'
O, if he should, Yolande, then I--must fulfil the prophecy. Nay, dear my
friend, stare not so great and sadly-eyed, he knoweth not the virtue of the
jewel nor have I seen him these many days.
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