Great Britain -- History -- Medieval period, 1066-1485 -- Fiction; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction
To the dolt and the hag the world is nothing but a fat larder; only the
unregenerate are blind of soul. Beauty, Diana-like, shows not her naked
loveliness to all. The girl Yeoland’s eyes were full of a strange
lustre that May morning. Many familiar landmarks did she pass upon the
way, notched deep on the cross of memory. There stood the great beech
tree where Bertrand had carved his name, and the smooth bark still bore
the scars where the knife had wantoned. She forded the stream where
Roland’s pony had once pitched him into the mire. Her eyes grew dim as
she rode through the sun-steeped woods.
The day had drawn towards noon when they neared the glade in the midst
of Cambremont wood. Heavy wain wheels had scarred the smooth green of
the ride, and the newly-sawn pedestals of fallen oaks showed where
woodmen had been felling timber. To Jaspar the harper these signs were
more eloquent of peril than of peace. He began to snuff the air like an
old hound, and to jerk restless glances at the girl at his side.
"See where wheels have been," he began.
"And axes, my friend."
"What means it?"
"Some one rebuilds the tower."
The harper wagged his head and half turned his horse from the grass
ride.
"Have a care," he said.
"Hide in the woods if you will."
She rode on with a triumphant wilfulness and he followed her.
As they neared the glade, the noise of axe and hammer floated on the
wind, and they saw the scene flicker towards them betwixt the great
boles of the trees. The tower stood with battlements of fresh white
stone; its windows had been reset, the blasting touch of fire effaced
from the walls. The glade was strewn with blocks of stone and lengths
of timber; the walls of a chapel were rising from the grass. Men were
digging trenches for the foundations of the priest’s cell. Soldiers
idled about gossiping with the masons.
There was a smile in the girl’s eyes and a deeper tint upon her cheeks
as she stared betwixt the trees at the regarnished tower. Those grey
eyes had promised the truth in Fulviac’s cavern. She was glad in her
heart of the man’s honour, glad with a magic that made her colour. As
for the harper, he stroked his grey beard and was mute. He lacked
imagination, and was no longer young.
On a stump of an oak tree at the edge of the wood sat a man in a black
mantle and a habit of white cloth. He had a panel upon his knee, and a
small wooden chest beside him on the grass. His eyes were turned often
to the rolling woods, as his plump hand flourished a brush with nervous
and graceful gestures.
Seeing the man’s tonsure, and his dress that marked him a Dominican,
Yeoland rode out from the trees, casting her horse’s shadow athwart his
work. The man looked up with puckered brow, his keen eye framing the
girl’s figure at a glance. It was his destiny to see the romantic and
the beautiful in all things.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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