For she knew it now; she had
learned it through those age-long hours of agony, that he whom she
called her enemy was the lord of her heart, that in spite of all her
rage at the cheat that had been put upon her, she loved, not the
great noble who had done so much to save France--no, nor the ragged
poet who had lent her his sword-arm and his sword, but just the man,
by whatever name he might be called and in whatever way of life his
wheel of fortune might spin, whose hand had proved to be of the
right size to hold her heart in its hollow. The Katherine of
yesterday seemed to be dead and buried, to have died a fiery death
of fierce thoughts, fierce agonies, fierce exultations, and from
that travail a new Katherine had come into being with cleansed eyes
to see the world truly and with a cleansed soul to know a great
soul's truth.
Noel watched her silence but it meant nothing to him, and he tripped
into her high thoughts cheerfully.
"I am a brave gentleman," he said, patting himself approvingly upon
the breast. "I slew Thibaut d'Aussigny last night. The king has
taken me back into favour. If I played the fool's part yesterday, I
can play the wise man's part to-morrow.
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