Yet
not for all that resolve - not for a hundred such resolves - could
I have gone thus. One kindly word, one kindly glance at least
would I take to comfort me. I would tell her in plain words of my
purpose, and she should see that there was still some good, some
sense of honour in me, and thus should esteem me after I was gone.
"Ganymede." said I.
"Monseigneur?"
"Bid the men mount."
At that she turned, wonder opening her eyes very wide, and her
glance travelled from me to Rodenard with its unspoken question.
But even as she looked at him he bowed and, turning to do my bidding,
left the room. We heard his steps pass with a jingle of spurs
across the hall and out into the courtyard. We heard his raucous
voice utter a word of command, and there was a stamping of hoofs,
a cramping of harness, and all the bustle of preparation.
"Why have you ordered your men to mount?" she asked at last.
"Because my business here is ended, and we are going."
"Going?" said she. Her eyes were lowered now, but a frown
suggested their expression to me. "Going whither?"
"Hence," I answered. "That for the moment is all that signifies."
I paused to swallow something that hindered a clear utterance.
Then, "Adieu!" said I, and I abruptly put forth my hand.
Her glance met mine fearlessly, if puzzled.
"Do you mean, monsieur, that you are leaving Lavedan - thus?"
"So that I leave, what signifies the manner of my going?"
"But" - the trouble grew in her eyes; her cheeks seemed to wax paler
than they had been - "but I thought that - that we made a bargain.
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