"What need to tell me that, Belhs Cavaliers?"
And the Saracen shrugged. "It is very true I lie," he said. "As among
friends, I may confess I killed the Prince. But for the rest, take
notice both of you, I mean to lie intrepidly."
Raimbaut remembered how his mother had given each of two lads an apple,
and he had clamored for Guillaume's, as children do, and Guillaume had
changed with him. It was a trivial happening to remember after fifty
years; but Guillaume was dead, and this hacked flesh was Raimbaut's
flesh in part, and the thought of Raimbaut would never trouble
Guillaume de Baux any more. In addition there was a fire of juniper
wood and frankincense upon the hearth, and the room smelt too cloyingly
of be-drugging sweetness. Then on the walls were tapestries which
depicted Merlin's Dream, so that everywhere recoiling women smiled with
bold eyes; and here their wantonness seemed out of place.
"Listen," Makrisi was saying; "listen, for the hour strikes. At last,
at last!" he cried, with a shrill whine of malice.