Dead Mans Plack and an Old Thorn | Page 6

with that sullen old
man in comparative seclusion in a remote province. It was not only the
beautiful dignity and graciousness with which she received him, with
the exquisite beauty in the lines and colour of her face, and her hair
which, if unloosed, would have covered her to the knees as with a
splendid mantle. That hair of a colour comparable only to that of the
sweet gale when that sweet plant is in its golden withy or catkin stage
in the month of May, and is clothed with catkins as with a foliage of a
deep shining red gold, that seems not a colour of earth but rather one
distilled from the sun itself. Nor was it the colour of her eyes, the deep
pure blue of the lungwort, that blue loveliness seen in no other flower
on earth. Rather it was the light from her eyes which was like lightning
that pierced and startled him; for that light, that expression, was a living
spirit looking through his eyes into the depths of his soul, knowing all
its strength and weakness, and in the same instant resolving to make it
her own and have dominion over it.
It was only when he had escaped from the power and magic of her
presence, when alone in his sleeping room, that reflection came to him
and the recollection of Edgar and of his mission. And there was dismay
in the thought. For the woman was his, part and parcel of his heart and
soul and life; for that was what her lightning glance had said to him,
and she could not be given to another. No, not to the king! Had any
man, any friend, ever been placed in so terrible a position? Honour?
Loyalty? To whichever side he inclined he could not escape the crime,
the base betrayal and abandonment! But loyalty to the king would be
the greater crime. Had not Edgar himself broken every law of God and
man to gratify his passion for a woman? Not a woman like this! Never
would Edgar look on her until he, Athelwold, had obeyed her and his
own heart and made her his for ever! And what would come then! He
would not consider it--he would perish rather than yield her to another!
That was how the question came before him, and how it was settled,
during the long sleepless hours when his blood was in a fever and his
brain on fire; but when day dawned and his blood grew cold and his

brain was tired, the image of Edgar betrayed and in a deadly rage
became insistent, and he rose desponding and in dread of the meeting
to come. And no sooner did he meet her than she overcame him as on
the previous day; and so it continued during the whole period of his
visit, racked with passion, drawn now to this side, now to that, and
when he was most resolved to have her then most furiously assaulted
by loyalty, by friendship, by honour, and he was like a stag at bay
fighting for his life against the hounds. And every time he met her--and
the passionate words he dared not speak were like confined fire,
burning him up inwardly--seeing him pale and troubled she would greet
him with a smile and look which told him she knew that he was
troubled in heart, that a great conflict was raging in him, also that it was
on her account and was perhaps because he had already bound himself
to some other woman, some great lady of the land; and now this new
passion had come to him. And her smile and look were like the
world-irradiating sun when it rises, and the black menacing cloud that
brooded over his soul would fade and vanish, and he knew that she had
again claimed him and that he was hers.
So it continued till the very moment of parting, and again as on their
first meeting he stood silent and troubled before her; then in faltering
words told her that the thought of her would travel and be with him;
that in a little while, perhaps in a month or two, he would be rid of a
great matter which had been weighing heavily on his mind, and once
free he could return to Devon, if she would consent to his paying her
another visit.
She replied smilingly with gracious words, with no change from that
exquisite perfect dignity which was always hers; nor tremor in her
speech, but only that understanding look from her eyes, which said:
Yes, you shall come back to me in good time, when you have smoothed
the way, to claim me for your own.

IV
On Athelwold's return the king embraced