"I have not mine to give," she answered in a low voice. "It is yours already--and I would that you were not English, that I might be your sovereign and make you great among men--or that I were England's Queen--and that may come to pass, and you shall see what I will do for love of you--I would marry that boy of the Plantagenets, if it could serve you!" "Madam," said Gilbert, "think of your own present safety--the King is very angry--" "Did I think of your safety when I sent you out to lead us? Now if you are here, am I not safe? Gilbert--" She let her voice caress his name, and her lips lingered with it, and she laid her hands upon his shoulders. As he knelt beside her--she bent to his face. "Best and bravest living man"--it was a whisper now--"love of my life--heart of my heart--this last time--this only once--and then good-by." She kissed him on the forehead, and leapt from her seat in horror, for there was another voice in the room, with a hurt cry. "Oh, Gilbert! Gilbert!" Beatrix was reeling on her feet, and caught the curtain, lest she fall, and her face of agony was still turned toward the two, as they stood together. Gilbert sprang forward, when he understood, and caught the girl in his arms and brought her to the light, trembling like a falling leaf. Then she started in his arms and struggled wildly to be free, and twisted her neck lest he should kiss her; but he held her fast. "Beatrix! You do not understand--you did not hear!" He tried to make her listen to him. "I heard!" she cried, still struggling. "I saw! I know! Let me go--oh, for God's sake, let me go!" Gilbert's arms relaxed, and she sprang back from him two paces, and faced the Queen. "You have won!" she cried, in a breaking voice. "You have him body and soul, as you swore you would! But do not say that I have not understood!" "I have given him to you, soul and body," answered Eleanor, sadly. "Might I not even bid him good-by, as a friend might?" "You are false--falser each than the other," answered Beatrix, in white anger. "You have played with me, tricked me, made me your toy--" "Did you hear this man say that he did not love me, before I bade him good-by?" asked Eleanor, gravely, almost sternly. "He has said it to me, but not to you, never to you--never to the woman he loves!" "I never loved the Queen," said Gilbert. "On my soul--on the Holy Cross--" "Never loved her? And you saved her life before mine--" "And you said that I did well--" "It was all a lie--a cruel lie--" The girl's voice almost broke, but she choked down the terrible tears, and got words again. "It would have been braver to have told me long ago--I should not have died then, for I loved you less." Eleanor came a step nearer and spoke very quietly and kindly. "You are wrong," she said. "Sir Gilbert is sent by the King to take me as a prisoner, that I may be carried away to Jerusalem this very night. Come, you shall hear the voices of the soldiers who are waiting for me."