"Hunt her! I am going to find her. I think she has had hunting enough,
God bless her."
"Yes, she has," said Mellifont gravely.
Prosper stooped in his saddle and laid a hand on her head.
"My dear," said he, "I love that hunted lady beyond everything in the
world; I never knew how much until I had lost her. But no wrong will
happen to her till she hears me tell her the truth. If you know
anything you must not hide it from me."
Mellifont peered up at him through her hair.
"Are you Prosper?" she asked.
"Yes, I am indeed. Did she speak to you about me?"
"Often."
"Is she--ah, Lord of Hosts! she is not here?"
"No, not now. She was here. Come with me. But you must leave your
horse and sword behind you."
Prosper obeyed her without a thought. Mellifont took his hand and led
him to the hollow under the oak. Belvisée was there, dumbly nursing
her side, which a stooping hind was licking when the pair came up.
Prosper received the red robe and the sequins from her hands, and in
time pieced the story together. It cut him to the soul.
"Take me to the place where the dogs got her," he said in a whisper.
Belvisée and Mellifont led him there. Once more, then, he wasted his
eyes on crushed herbage, black fern, and stained earth; again loathed
himself very heartily for what he had not done; but in time understood
what he had done. He turned deliberately to the sisters. "Belvisée and
Mellifont, listen to what I shall tell you. There is no strength like
a woman's, and no blindness like that of a man. For the woman is
strong because she is blind and cannot see the man she loves as he is;
therefore she makes him in her own glorious image. But the man is
blind because he is strong, and because he seeth himself so glorious
that he can abide no other near him save as a servant. In that he doth
deadly sin to Love, because the food of Love is service, and he that
serves not Love starves him. But the woman feedeth him with her own
milk; so Love is with her till she dies. I, by the mercy of God, have
learned what Love is, and can feed him with service. And Isoult la
Desirous has taught me, who is now Isoult la Desirée."
Prosper ceased. Mellifont was crying on Belvisée's shoulder. The
latter said-"Prosper, if all men were like thee, we might leave the forest and
dwell with them."
"Come with me," he said, "and I will see you safely bestowed."
"No, no; we will stay where we are known and with whom we know. All
men are not like you."