Some well-meaning man-at-arms here gruffly pulled the young minstrel away; and the last he saw of Robert was that he turned inquiringly to the knights, and that they all seemed eager to please him and be near him. Yet quickly he turned from the knights, as he heard the footsteps of several men approaching, and with them the patter of a pair of light feet. Then came in the midst of those rough, shaggy men-at-arms, a young, pure-looking girl. She had one of those faces not eminently beautiful, and yet at which you gaze with a kind of awe; holiness too proud to ask the aid of mere beauty! Men seemed to grow better as they looked upon this holy young face. “Alice, dear Alice--my sister Alice!” “My prince--my prince!” and the young creature flung herself upon the ground near Robert. “‘Tis my sister, gentlemen--our breath mingled on the same breast.” And stooping he lifted Alice from the ground. Strange--his face seemed much lighter than it was, and his very voice happier and freer. As for his companion, whom he called Bertram, he rose from the table, kept his eyes from the girl, and moved away--farther away--farther away--till he was lost to sight in the midst of the tents. The knights and gentlemen about seemed to know that she would speak to him privately, for they withdrew, and soon left a wide space between themselves and the girl Alice. “Prince, Alice. Call me not prince. For I am to thee ever brother. So, thou hast come to see the exile? I have striven to die since last I saw dear Normandy; but I bear a charmed life, methinks. And now here, Alice, love itself is my enemy. But thou dost not say why thou hast come.” “My duty hath brought me hither.” “Thou wast ever dutiful.” “The duty I owe to a dear mistress bringeth me to thee.” “Thou dost speak of my dear mother whom heaven bless.” “Then is she blessed in heaven.” “She--my mother!” “And when thou shalt next see her, thou shalt be in heaven too.” “Dead--dead--my mother dead!” As he spoke Bertram glided from behind one of the tents, but the next moment was lost again. He turned his face angrily away as tears fell from the young knight’s eyes. “‘Go,’ thy mother said, ‘go, my Alice, to him, and say that, though he has made my heart bleed all his life, I love him heartily; that my last thoughts are for him; that I will pray for him and watch him through his dark hours of temptation. Tell him a terrible power enwraps him, but thou--thou,’ and she laid her hands upon my head, O brother--‘thou shalt be his guardian spirit. I know that I may will it so. The hour must come when between me and the evil I have named my son must make his choice. Be thou near him then, O Alice, be thou near him, that he may pass surely on the narrow way to me!’ Then she lay down, whispering that she would her son were by to close her eyes--and so thy mother died.” He hung his head and wept for pity and for love of that dear mother.