“Thy brother and the Prince have won Basildene for thee; surely thou wilt not leave us till Saut has yielded to me!”

Raymond held out his hand and grasped that of Gaston in a warm clasp.

“We will go forth together once again as brothers in arms,” he said, with brightening eyes.  “It may be that our paths in life may henceforth be divided; wherefore it behoves us in the time that remains to us to cling the more closely together.  I will go with thee, brother, as thy faithful esquire and comrade, and we will win back for thee the right to call the old lands thine.  How often we have dreamed together in our childhood of some such day!  How far away it then appeared! and yet the day has come.”

“And thou wilt then see my Constanza,” said Gaston, in low, exultant tones —­ “my lovely and gentle mistress, to whom thou, my brother, owest thy life.  It is meet that thou shouldst be one to help to set her free from the tyranny of her rude uncle and the isolation of her dreary life in yon grim castle walls.  Thou hast seen her, hast thou not?  Tell me, was she not the fairest, the loveliest object thine eyes had ever looked upon, saving of course (to thee) thine own beauteous lady?”

“Methought it was some angel visitor from the unseen world,” answered Raymond, “flitting into yon dark prison house, where it seemed that no such radiant creature could dwell.  There was fever in my blood, and all I saw was through a misty veil, I scarce believed it more than a sweet vision; but I will thank her now for the whispered word of hope breathed in mine ear in the hour of my sorest need.”

“Ay, that thou shalt do!” cried Gaston, with all a lover’s delight in the thought of the near meeting with the lady of his heart.  “And when, in days to come, thou and I shall bring our brides to Edward’s Court, men will all agree that two nobler, lovelier women never stepped this earth before —­ my fairy Constanza, a creature of fire and snow; thy Joan, a veritable queen amongst women, stately, serene, full of dignity and courage, and beautiful as she is noble.”

“And thou art sure that she is safe?” questioned Raymond, his heart still longing for the moment of reunion after the long separation, albeit those were days when the separation of years was no infrequent thing, even betwixt those most closely drawn by bonds of love.  “There is none else to come betwixt her and me?  Her father will not strive to sunder us more?”

“Her father is but too joyous to be free from the power of the Sanghurst; and the Prince spoke words that brought the flush of shame tingling to his face.  An age of chivalry, and a man selling his daughter for filthy lucre to one renowned for his evil deeds and remorseless cruelties!  A lady forced to flee her father’s house and brave the perils of the road to escape a terrible doom!  I would thou hadst heard him, Raymond our noble young Prince, with scorn in his voice and the light of indignation in his eyes.