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158 MOONFOLK.
will have for this evening at least a knight
one can speak an evil word."
So saying, he made a gesture of dismissal,
of whom nc
llhoda
followed her guide to a chamber, where with fresh water,
ivory combs, and a silken mantle which Alicia insisted
upon throwing over her shoulders, she made so great an
improvement in her appearance, that when shortly after
she was conducted to the withdrawing room where the
knights waited for their ladies, Sir Percivale, in offering
her his hand, and pointing to the rose in his doublet,
eaid :
" Is the flower named from thee, or art thou named
from the flower, fairest rose of roses "
?
" Oh, if
you please, don't talk that way to me, Sir
Percivale," exclaimed Rhoda in real distress.
" I am
only a little girl, and never saw any gentleman like you
in the world that is, in the world I used to live in ;
but
here everything is
"
different, and I don't quite know
" Did you come from that strange dim world that
they tell us we all used to live in? Sometimes I
remember like a dream that I was not always here,"
said Sir Percivale thoughtfully. " But after all, this
is the real life,
and that was only a vision ;
so let it pass,
dear little Ehoda, and we will take our places at the
table. It is fairly laid, is it not ? "
As he spoke he led Hhoda forward into the hall,
which was now brilliantly lighted by great wax candles
eet in golden candlesticks shaped like trees, all down the