"Ah! How do you know that, Vincent?"
"She talked very often to herself when we were in the forest. We have
been to many places--Wanmeeting, Waisford. There is no doubt at all.
`Kill the buck and you have the doe': she said it over and over again.
We have seen the sick man. He is quite well now, and very strong. She
is to kill your lord and take you alive. She seems to hate him. I
can't tell you why. Which is your lord of all those on the dais?"
"Hush. There he sits on the right hand of the Countess. He is talking
to her now. Look, she is laughing."
"Oh, he is tall. He looks light and fierce, like a leopard. How high
he carries his head! As if we were of another world."
"So we are," said Isoult.
Vincent sighed and went on with his story. "I have run away from
Maulfry. She left me to wait for her at the end of the avenue, with
three horses, just as I was at Gracedieu--do you remember? But I could
never do that again. Now I must hide somewhere."
"Come with me. I will hide you."
She took him to the buttery and gave him over to the cook-maids. She
told Melot that this was a fellow of hers who must be tended at all
costs. Melot made haste to obey, sighing like a gale of wind. Isoult
had rather asked any other, but time pressed. She hurried back to the
hall to take her proper place at table, and going thither, made sure
that her dagger slid easily in and out. She was highly excited, but
not with fear--elated rather.
Supper passed safely over. The Countess withdrew to the gallery, and
Prosper followed her as his duty bound him. He was still thoughtful
and subdued, but with a passing flash now and again of his old
authority, which served to make a blacker sky for the love-sick lady.
The sounds of music came gratefully to Isoult; for once she was glad
to be rid of him. She sped back to Vincent, enormously relieved that
the field of battle was to be narrowed. Maulfry would have been
awkward in the open; she knew she could hold her in the passages.
There were two things to be prevented, observe. The knife must not
discover Prosper, nor Maulfry Isoult. The latter was almost as
important on Prosper's account as the former. Isoult knew that. She
knew also that it must be risked of the two; but in the passages she
could deal with it.
Vincent was sitting by the fire between Melot and Jocosa, another of
the maids. Melot bit her lip, and edged away from him as Isoult came
in.
"Girls," said the redoubtable Roy, with scant ceremony, "I have to
speak to my mate."