"
Villon flung his hands apart with a magnificent gesture of
liberation.
"That broker of ballads shall go free. Your prayer unshackles him
and we will do no more than banish him from Paris. Forget that such
a slave ever came near you."
The lady dropped him a magnificent curtsey, and her cheeks glowed
with gratitude.
"I shall remember your clemency."
She made as if she would leave his presence, but his boldness waxed
within him as a fire waxes with new wood, and he caught her lightly
by the wrist.
"By Saint Venus, I envy this fellow that he should have won your
thoughts. For I am in his case and I, too, would die to serve you!"
Surprise flamed in the girl's eyes, surprise and amusement mingled.
"My lord, you do not know me," she laughed, and her laughter was as
fresh and merry as a milkmaid's in the meadows.
"Did he know you? Yet when he saw you he loved you and made bold to
tell you so."
Her forehead wrinkled prettily in a little protesting frown.
"His words were of no more account than the wind in the eaves. But
you and I are peers and the words we change have meanings."
Villon caught his breath.
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