A Fool There Was

sardonic, it is true, cruel, sometimes grewso

ree kings-a man handsome of face, graceful of figure, debonair-a man who had sinned much,

ears. He went alone. He rode his horse through the narrow, brush-grown path by which had gone the stranger who had seen the naked girl, at the edge of th

there, why, he did not know.

door. She looked up as he approached. She, in no way, heeded the elaborate bow

is never far from the aged.... It should be a consolation,

d old woman m

hile tapping; with the end of

een pleadings, and revilings-tears, and curses- bended knees, and unbended arms." He indicated with a graceful gesture a deep cut upon the back of his left hand. "It was a woman-a very pretty woman," he explained. "At least, she had been pretty; and she was again pretty; when she did th

ilent, motionless; though her eyes spoke. And that whi

as. I have a great curiosity- the blood of three kings, you know; surely that would overcome the blood of the good God knows how many peasant swine. She is not red, and hair

aning much and little-everything, and yet nothing." He laughed at his own conceit, softly. "Tell me, where is she now? It mig

ddenly he ceased in his speech; the smile lef

ngle garment covered her, running across one shoulder, reaching to her knees. It left one breast exposed, and the w

rivelled old woman spok

re p

hat w

for a long, long time they stood eye upon eye.... At length she

looking at her, his eyes still on hers.... He was back to the great cliff-the sheer cliff at the base of w

. Yet another step he took, away fro

s eyes on hers, again he retreated. And suddenly, in utter silence save for the rending of crumbling earth and uprooted grass, he slid over the ed

shrivelled, shrunken old woman bent her

uttered. And

ustr