"As thou
sayest, there is the pool yonder! So come, get thee to bed and--sleep!
Come, let me cover thee with thy cloak and gainsay me not; sleep thou must
and shalt."
So Duke Jocelyn stretched himself obediently upon the bed of fern and
suffered her to cover him with the cloak; but as she stooped above him
thus, he lifted the hem of her dress to reverent lips.
"My lady!" he murmured. "My dear lady!"
"Now close me thine eyes, wearied child!" she commanded. And, like a child,
in this also he obeyed her, albeit unwillingly by reason of her radiant
beauty, but hearing her beside him, was content, and thus presently fell to
happy sleeping.
When he awoke the sun was high and he lay awhile basking in this grateful
radiance and joying in the pervading quiet; but little by little, growing
uneasy by reason of this stillness, he started up to glance about him and
knew sudden dread--for the little glade was empty--Yolande had vanished;
moreover the horse was gone also.
Cold with an awful fear he got him to his feet and looked hither and yon,
but nowhere found any sign of violence or struggle.
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