'
'A king, my lord, and judge foolishly!'
'A king, my damsel, and judged merrily. But fear me not; I trust in
God to judge fairly even betwixt friend and foe, and I doubt not it
will be now to the lightening of thy trouble, my poor storm-beaten
dove.'
It startled Dorothy with a gladness that stung like pain, to hear
the word he never used but to his wife thus flit from his lips in
the tenderness of his pity, and alight like the dove itself upon her
head. She thanked him with her whole soul, and was silent.
'I will send hither to thee, my child, when I require thy presence;
and when I send come straight to my lady's parlour.'
Dorothy bowed her head, but could not speak, and lord Herbert walked
quickly from her. She heard him run down the stair almost with the
headlong speed of his boy Henry.
Half an hour passed slowly--then lady Margaret's page came lightly
up the steps, bearing the request that she would favour his mistress
with her presence. She rose from the battlement where she had seated
herself to watch the moon, already far up in the heavens, as she
brightened through the gathering dusk, and followed him with beating
heart.
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