"Did my father send you to me ?" He inclined his head and smiled again.
"Did you say to him what you have said to me ?" she asked, not quite without a touch of malice.
"I left out about the colour in the cheek," he answered, with a smirk at what he took to be the quickness of his wit.
"You kept your paint-pot for me," she replied softly.
"And the dove-cote, too," he rejoined, bowing finely, and almost carried off his feet by his own brilliance.

She became serious at once--so quickly that he was ill prepared for it, and could do little but stare and pluck at the tassel of his sword; for he was embarrassed before this maiden, who changed as quickly as the currents change under the brow of the Couperon Cliff, behind which lay his manor-house of Rozel.
"I have visited at your manor, Monsieur of Rozel.

I have seen the state in which you live, your retainers, your men-at-arms, your farming-folk, and your sailormen.

I know how your Queen receives you; how your honour is as stable as your fief." He drew himself up again proudly.

He could understand this speech.
"Your horses and your hounds I have seen," she added, "your men-servants and your maid-servants, your fields of corn, your orchards, and your larder.