The Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay | Page 6

that is a possible thing. He was arrogant, but his smile veiled the fault;
you saw it best in a sleepy look he had. His blemishes were many, his
weaknesses two. He trusted to his own force too much, and despised
everybody else in the world. Not that he thought them knaves; he was
certain they were fools. And so most of them were, no doubt, but not
all. The first flush of him moved your admiration: great height, great
colour, the red and the yellow; his beard which ran jutting to a point
and gave his jaw the clubbed look of a big cat's; his shut mouth, and
cold considering eyes; the eager set of his head, his soft, padding
motions--a leopard, a hunting leopard, quick to strike, but quick to

change purpose. This, then, was Richard Yea-and-Nay, whom all
women loved, and very few men. These require to be trusted before
they love; and full trust Richard gave to no man, because he could not
believe him worth it. Women are more generous givers, expecting not
again.
Here was Jehane Saint-Pol, a girl of two-and-twenty to his
two-and-thirty, well born, well formed, greatly desired among her peers,
who, having let her soul be stolen, was prepared to cut it out of herself
for his sake who took it, and let it die. She was the creature of his love,
in and out by now the work of his hands. God had given her a
magnificent body, but Richard had made it glow. God had made her
soul a fair room; but his love had filled it with light, decked it with
flowers and such artful furniture. He, in fact, as she very well knew,
had given her the grace to deal queenly with herself. She knew that she
would have strength to deny him, having learned the hardihood to give
him her soul. Fate had carried her too young into the arms of the most
glorious prince in the world. Her brother, Eudo the Count, built castles
on that in his head. Now she was to tumble them down. Her younger
brother, Eustace, loved this splendid Richard. Now she was to hurt him.
What was to become of herself? Mercy upon her, I believe she never
thought of that. His honour was her necessity: the watch-fires in the
north told her the hour was at hand. The old King was come up with a
host to drive his son to bed. Richard must go, and she woo him out. Son
of a king, heir of a king, he must go to the king his father; and he knew
he must go. Two days' maddening delight, two nights' biting of nails,
miserable entreaty from Jehane, grown newly pinched and grey in the
face, and he owned it.
He said to her the last night, 'When I saw you first, my Queen of Snows,
in the tribune at Vézelay, when the knights rode by for the melée, the
green light from your eyes shot me, and wounded I cried out, "That
maid or none!"'
She bowed her head; but he went on. 'When they throned you queen of
them all because you were so proud and still, and had such a high
untroubled head; and when your sleeve was in my helm, and my heart

in your lap, and men fallen to my spear were sent to kneel before
you--what caused your cheek to burn and your eyes to shine so bright?'
She hid her face. 'Homage of the knights! The love of me!' he cried;
and then, 'Ah, Jehane of the Fair Girdle, when I took you from the
pastures of Gisors, when I taught you love and learned from your
young mouth what love might be, I was made man. But now you ask
me to become dog.' And he swore yet again he could never leave her.
But she smiled proudly, being in pain. 'Nay, my lord, but the man in
you is awake, and not to leave you. You shall go because you are the
king's son, and I shall pray for the new king.' So she beat him, and had
him weeping terribly, his face in her lap. She wept no more, but
dry-eyed kissed him, and dry-lipped went to bed. 'He said Yea that
time,' records the Abbot Milo, 'but I never knew then what she paid for
it. That was later.' He went next morning, and she saw him go.
CHAPTER II
HOW THE FAIR JEHANE BESTOWED HERSELF
Betimes is best for an ugly business; your man of spirit will always
rush what he loathes but yet must do. Count Richard of Poictou, having
made up his mind and confessed himself overnight, must leave with the
first cock of the morning, yet must take the