"The knight that I should admire would be one that will not despair at a few difficulties." "I am that knight," eagerly. "He must be truthful and scorn a lie." "I do, from the bottom of my heart." "He must be a worker, and brave and courageous." "My principles exactly." "He must not be satisfied to be an ordinary knight. He must be a leader." "My ambition," emphatically. "He must be an exceptional man, noble, upright, a defender of the weak, and--and--and--must be my knight, and no one else's." Her eyes were shining darkly with a happy gleam, and there was a glow on her cheeks that made her a thousand times more attractive to the enthralled soul before her. Her countenance was close to his. Ah! The magic of its influence! [Illustration: "I am that knight," said Ande, warmly] His heart was beating so tumultuously he feared all heard it. He knew then and there the reason of his interest in her. Those vague feelings, which he had not taken the trouble to analyse, burst suddenly upon him like a revelation. He loved, yes, he knew it. Heretofore he had gone on blindly, driven by the subtile promptings within. Now he understood his own heart. There was a pang as he thought of the stain on his name, and then a joyous bound of his heart as he thought she believed in him, in his ability to eradicate the blot. She had called him her knight. He would be so. But then the thought of Master Lanyan emerged from the depths of the past, the squire's favour, and that scene when he was so contemptuously ignored by the haughty, young Etonian in the gardens. He had thought then that his hatred for him was due to the injustice to his family; now he knew. Her features, so close to his own, were the most prominent thing in the world to him then. What cared he for the twanging harp of Uncle Billy, the droll. He was ordinarily interested in the tales of Billy, but not now. That last sentence of hers of being her knight and a knight of no one else, sent a thrill through him. He longed to kiss her, then to throw himself at her feet and pour out the adoration of his soul. But he knew his situation and he simply said, "I am your knight, and no one else's." Then the thought of Lanyan again came to his mind, "And since I am your knight and belong to no other, it is but fair to ask you to have no other knight," half doubtingly. "Queens and ladies of old always had many knights to do them service," in mischievous, jesting tones. Ande's heart died within him and the light left his features. "And you intend to have many knights?" "Perhaps." "At least not Master Lanyan," fiercely, in an undertone. "My knight must not be a dictator." "But I must know," persistently. "You are impertinent," with some dignity. "He and his are the enemies of my house," doggedly. "And the friends of ours," quickly. "But he is an enemy of your knight."