He would remain at the inn over the morrow of the
great function of the coronation, and would receive his daughter
there, and have speech with her.
"Tell her that I will take her home with me, if she will come," he
spoke; "for she herself did say that her work would be accomplished
when the crown was placed upon the King's head. Let her be true to
her word; let her return home, and become a modest maiden again
beneath her mother's care, and all shall be well betwixt us. But if
pride and haughtiness possess her soul, and she prefers the company
of courtiers and soldiers to that of her own people, and the life
of camps to the life of home, then I wash my hands of her. Let her
go her own way. She shall no longer be daughter of mine!"
I did not tell those words to the Maid. My lips refused to speak
them. But I told her that her father would remain in the place till
she had leisure to have speech with him; and her eyes kindled with
joy at hearing such news, for it seemed to her as though this would
be the pledge of his forgiveness, the forgiveness for which she had
longed, and for the lack of which none of her triumphs could
altogether compensate.
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