Sir Raoul [By] James M. Ludlow; A Tale Of The Theft Of An Empire - nieuw boek

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: in AN EXPLOIT OF HEART AND HAND SIB GUY gave us children our own tournament field, which Cote de Fer laid out according to rules. It is that little sun-patched glade in the middle of the grove across the moat. Oftentimes when knights and ladies came to witness our prowess, Cote de Fer declared that Eence would rival the famous Clorinda, the fair Saracen who subdued at sword point all those who resisted her more feminine charms. Here, on our tournament field, Eenee one day helped me to win an earlier promotion from the office of page to that of esquire than I had hoped for. We were fencing on our Field of Honour. I had not realized how rapidly I must have grown, nor how rapidly she was being molded into the mysterious glory of her womanhood. But that day as I gazed into her eyes over the foil, ?for one must see an opponent's intention in the eye before a muscle moves in the thrust?I became for a moment dazzled by her beauty and failed to fend. Her sword point, which had lost its button, entered my shoulder. The hurt was trifling, a mere scratch; but when she wiped the blood away with her bare hand, and playfully kissed the wound to heal it, I felt a strange fire go through me. Ah, that flame still burns, the chill of age no more extinguishing it than cold winds put out other fires. From that moment I was no longer a child, but a man. And like a man, I think, I then and there declared my passion. My little mistress, not knowing why my hand and lips were so hot, was frightened at me and ran away.However, like the helpful soul she was, she would not leave me alone whatever might be the malady she thought I was possessed of. So she stopped when she had reached the middle of the long and narrow footbridge that swings above the great ravine. She leaned far over the log which ...