Story and Song of Black Roderick | Page 5

thou learn my hunger, thy heart would warm me to
life again'; but when she called three times upon Earl Roderick, she
paused as though for an answer, and smiled no more. 'Thee,' quoth she,
'I perish for, I hunger for. Thou lovest me not at all.'
"So did she sit and make her moan upon the hill, and here watched she
the lights in the far windows of her lost home quench themselves one
by one. 'Now,' quoth she, 'my mother sleepeth, and now my father. And
now by all am I forgotten.' Then did she steal, in the dim light, down
from the hill, and I saw her no more."
"What didst thou tell to her, old witch?" quoth the Black Earl, "as she
passed weeping? Didst thou speak to her no word?"
"I stopped her as she passed me, proud Earl," quoth the crone, "for she
was gentle, and held her head not too high to look upon one old and
near unto death.
"'Weep not,' said I, 'but spread to me thy fingers, so I may read what
fate thou holdest in thy palm.' And like a child she smiled between her
tears.
"'Look only on luck,' quoth she, 'oh, ancient one, lest my heart break
even now.' I spread her pink fingertips out as one would unruffle a rose,
and read therein her fate."
"And what read you there?" said the Black Earl, impatient with her
delay.
"I read," quoth the crone, "and if I say, thou must keep thy anger from
me, for what I read I had not written:

_"I traced upon her slender palm That luck was changing soon; I swore
that peace would come to her Before another moon._
_"I said that he who loved her well Would robe her all in silk, And bear
her in a coach of gold, With palfreys white as milk._
_"I told, before three suns had set He'd kneel down by her side; That he
she loved would love her well, And she would be his bride._
"'This before three suns have set,' so read I," quoth the crone.
Now, when the Black Earl heard so much, he would hear no more.
Pallid grew his angry cheek, and his eyes were full of fire; he flung
himself upon his horse, and, sparing not the beast, galloped home.
"In the highest tower shall I lock the jade," quoth he, "lest she bring me
shame; for what her palm had writ upon it one must believe, and who
dare love her, save I who will not? And should I die, wherefore should
she not be another's? And should I not die--but this no man dare, for I
shall tear his tongue from his mouth, his ear from his cheek, his heart
from his body, ere he speak or listen to a word to my dishonor."
Now, when he reached his castle, no man ventured to speak to him, or
look upon him with too inquisitive an eye, for his anger was such that
one trembled to approach him.
And at the gate of his castle sat his old love upon her palfrey, with a
stern face and grim; behind her, resting upon their way, came her
followers, knight and lady, gay with banner and spear, whispering in
their telling of the story.
"A curse upon the wandering feet that have brought disgrace upon thy
house," quoth his old love, her hand so tight upon the rein that the two
pages could hardly keep the horse from rearing.
But the proud Earl to her made no answer, neither to bid her welcome,
nor to bid her go, nor to speak of his fears. Into his breast he locked his
grief so that none might know the strain wellnigh broke the stony
casket of his heart.
When he leaped from his horse there came to him his little brother.
"My grief!" said the boy, "what has happened in the night, for I heard
the banshee sobbing so bitterly through the dark?"
No answer made the Black Earl to the boy, neither did he lift him in his
arms nor chide him for his weeping, but passed silent into his own
chamber, and crouched within his chair. When after a time he raised his
eyes, he seemed to see his young bride gazing upon him from the open

door. And in his anger he sprang to seize her, but only the empty air
came to his hands.
He mounted the marble stairs to her chamber to seek her there, but only
found a sewing-maid, pale and deadly faint.
"Oh, sharp sorrow," quoth she, "from what I have seen this night, Mary
protect me! A white ghost have I seen--evil it may bring to me--a white
ghost with dim eyes of the dead!"