Gilbert rose from his knees with the rest, and then he saw that the
King and Queen placed themselves side by side and standing, and the
nobles began to go up to them according to their rank, to kiss their
hands. As Gilbert stood still, not knowing what to do, he watched the
procession of the barons from a distance. Suddenly he felt that his
eyes were wide open, and that he was gazing at a face which he knew,
hardly believing that he saw it in the flesh; and his back stiffened,
and his teeth ground on one another.
Ten paces from him, waiting and looking on, like himself, stood a
graceful man of middle height, of a clear olive complexion, with a
well-clipped beard of somewhat pointed cut, grey at the sides, as was
also the smooth, dark hair. Years had passed, and the last time he had
seen that face had been in the changing light of the greenwood, where
the sunshine played among the leaves; and as he had seen it last, he
had felt steel in his side and had fallen asleep, and after that his
life had changed. For Arnold de Curboil was before him, looking at him,
but not recognizing him. Still Gilbert stood rooted to the spot, trying
not to believe his senses, for he could not understand how his
stepfather could suddenly be among the Crusaders; but the divine peace
that had descended upon him that night was shivered as a mirror by a
stone, and his heart grew cold and hard.
The man also was changed since Gilbert had seen him. The face was
handsome still, but it was thin and sharp, and the eyes were haggard
and weary, as if they had seen a great evil long and had sickened of it
at last, and were haunted by it. Gilbert looked at him who had murdered
his father and had brought shame to his mother, and who had robbed him
of his fair birthright, and he saw that something of the score had been
paid. Gradually, too, as Sir Arnold gazed, a look of something like
despair settled in his face, a sort of horror that was not fear,--for
he was no coward,--but was rather a dread of himself. He made a step
forward, and Gilbert waited, and heard how Dunstan, who stood behind
him, loosened his dagger in its brass sheath.
At that moment came the King's herald again as before, bidding him go
up to the presence of the King and Queen.
"Room for the Guide of Aquitaine!"
The cry rang loud and clear, and Gilbert saw Sir Arnold start in
surprise at the high-sounding title. Then he followed the herald; but
in his heart there was already a triumph that the man who had left him
for dead in the English woods should find him again thus preferred
before other men.
The Queen's face grew paler as he came toward her and knelt down on one
knee, and through her embroidered glove of state his own hand, that was
cold, felt that hers was colder. But it did not tremble, and her voice
was steady and clear, so that all could hear it.
"Sir Gilbert Warde," she said, "you have done well. Guienne thanks you,
and France also--" She paused and looked toward the King, who was
watching her closely.
Louis bent his great pale face solemnly toward the Englishman.
"We thank you, Sir Gilbert," he said, with cold condescension.
"A hundred thousand men thank you," added Eleanor, in a ringing voice
that was to make up for her husband's ungrateful indifference.
There was a moment's silence, and then the voice of Gaston de
Castignac, high and full, sent up a cheer that was heard far out in the
clear night.
"God bless the Guide of Aquitaine!"
The cheer was taken up in the deep shout of strong men in earnest; for
it was known how Gilbert cared not for himself, nor for rewards, but
only for honour; and the thirty men who had been with him had told far
and wide how often he had watched that they might sleep, and how he
would always give the best to others, and how gently and courteously he
treated those he commanded.
But in the loud cheering, Eleanor took his hand in both hers and bent
down to speak to him, unheard by the rest; and her voice was low and
trembled a little.
"God bless you!" she said fervently. "God bless you and keep you, for
as I am a living woman, you are dearer to me than the whole world."
Gilbert understood how she loved him, as he had not understood before.
And yet her touch had no evil power to move him now, and the shadow of
his mother no longer haunted him in her eyes as he looked up. There,
beside the Christmas altar, in the Holy Night, she was trying to
complete the sacrifice of herself and her love. Gilbert answered her
earnestly.
"Madam," he said, "I shall try to do your will with all my heart, even
to death."
Thereafter he kept his word. But now he rose to his feet, and after
bending his knee again, he looked into the Queen's sad eyes, and passed
on to make way for the others, while the cheers that were for him still
rang in the air.
Then he began to walk to his tent. Dunstan had lighted a fresh torch
and was waiting for him. But the great barons, who had gone up to the
King and Queen before him, pressed round him and shook his hand, one
after another, and bade him to their feasting on the morrow; nor was
there jealousy of him, as there had been when he had saved the Queen's
life at Nicaea, for now that they saw him they felt that he was no
courtier, and desired only the safety of the army, with his own honour.
As they thronged about him, there came Sir Arnold de Curboil, pressing
his way among them, and when he was before Gilbert he also held out his
hand.
"Gilbert Warde," he asked, "do you not know me?"
"I know you, sir," answered the young knight, in a clear voice that all
could hear, "but I will not take your hand."
There was silence, and the great nobles looked on, not understanding,
while Dunstan held his torch so that the light fell full upon Sir
Arnold's pale features.
"Then take my glove!"
He plucked off his loose leathern gauntlet and tossed it lightly at
Gilbert's face. But Dunstan's quick left hand caught it in the air,
while the torch scarcely wavered in his right.
Gilbert was paler than his enemy, but he would not let his hand go to
his sword, and he folded his arms under his mantle, lest they should
move against his will.
"Sir," he said, "I will not fight you again at this time, though you
killed my father treacherously. Though you have stolen my birthright, I
will not fight you now, for I have taken the Cross, and I will keep the
vow of the Cross, come what may."
"Coward!" cried Sir Arnold, contemptuously, and he would have turned on
his heel.
But Gilbert stepped forward and caught him by his arms and held him
quietly, without hurting him, but so that he could not easily move and
must hear.
"You have called me a coward, Sir Arnold de Curboil. How should I fear
you, since I can wring you to death in my hands if I will? But I will
let you go, and these good lords here shall judge whether I am a coward
or not because I will not fight you until I have fulfilled my vows."
"Well said," cried the old Count of Bourbon.
"Well said, well done," cried many others.
Moreover, the Count of Savoy, of whose race none was ever born that
knew fear, even to this day, spoke to his younger brother of Montferrat.
"I have not seen a braver man than this English knight, nor a better
man of his hands, nor one more gentle, and he has the face of a leader."
Then Gilbert loosed his hold and Sir Arnold looked angrily to the right
and left, and passed out of the crowd, all men making way for him as if
they would not touch him. Some of them turned to Gilbert again, and
asked him questions about the strange knight.
"My lords," he answered, "he is Sir Arnold de Curboil, my stepfather;
for when he had killed my father, he married my mother and stole my
lands. I fought him when I was but a boy, and he left me for dead in
the forest; and now I think that he is come from England to seek
occasion against me; but if I live I shall get back my inheritance. And
now, if I seem to you to have dealt justly by him, I crave my leave of
you, and thank your lordships for your good will and courtesy."
So they bade him good-night, and he went away, leaving many who felt
that he had done well, but that, in his place, they could not have done
as much. They did not know how dear it cost him, but dimly they guessed
that he was braver than they, though they were of the bravest.
He was very tired, and had not slept in a good bed under his own tent
for two months; yet he was sleepless, and awoke after two hours, and
could not sleep again till within an hour of the winter dawn; for he
feared some evil for Beatrix if her father should claim her of the
Queen and take her back from Ephesus by sea, as he must have come.
At daylight, warming themselves at a fire, Dunstan told Alric all that
happened in the night. The Saxon's stolid face did not change, but he
was thoughtful and silent for some time, remembering how the Lady Goda
had once had him beaten, long ago, because he had not held Sir Arnold's
horse in the right way when the knight was mounting.
Presently Beatrix's Norman tirewoman came to the two men, wrapped in a
brown cloak with a hood that covered half her face. She told them that
her lady knew of Sir Arnold's coming, and begged of Sir Gilbert that
for her sake he would walk by the river at noon, when every one would
be at dinner in the camp, and she would try and meet him there.