And yet the image before him was one which might have
removed doubt of himself from any man's heart, it being of such
gracious height and manly strength, and, with its beauteous leonine eye
and brow, its high bearing, and the richness of its apparel, so noble a
picture.
He turned away unseeing, with a smile and half a sigh of deep and
tender passion. "May I ride home," he said, "as Hugh de Mertoun
did--four hundred years ago!"
When they arrived at their entertainer's house the festivities were at
full; brilliant light shone from every window and streamed from the
wide entrance in a flood, coaches rolled up the avenue and waited for
place before the door, from within strains of music floated out to the
darkness of the night, and as the steps were mounted each arrival
caught glimpses of the gay scene within: gentlemen in velvet and
brocade and ladies attired in all the rich hues of a bed of
flowers--crimson, yellow, white and blue, purple and gold and rose.
Their young host met them on the threshold and welcomed them with
boyish pride and ardour. He could scarce contain himself for pleasure
at being so honoured in his first hospitalities by the great kinsman of
his house, who, though but arrived at early maturity, was already
spoken of as warrior, statesman, and honoured favourite at Court.
"We are but country gentry, your Grace," he said, reddening boyishly,
when he had at length led them up the great stairway to the ball-room,
"and most of us have seen little of the world.
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