The Heirs of Hammerfell Read Online Free PDF Page A

think I want to be loved for the jewels I give you, girl? I'm flattered that you treasure your husband more than your bride-gift. Let's have them off, then." Laughing, he unfastened the massive gold clasps of the
    emeralds and helped her to lay them aside, hearing her sigh of relief. When all the necklaces and heavy bracelets had been unfastened and laid in heaps on the night table, he quietly asked, "Now will you open my other gift to you?"
    Erminie sat up in bed and eagerly drew the basket toward her. She pulled the blanket aside and with a single small cry of delight she reached into the basket and drew forth the large furry puppy.
    "What a darling he is," she cried, hugging the puppy close in her arms. "Oh, thank you!"
    "I'm glad you're pleased, my dear," said Rascard, smiling, and she flung her arms round him, kissing him impulsively.
    "Has he a name, my lord Duke?"
    "No; I thought you would like to name her yourself," said Rascard, "but I have a name, and you must call me by it, my dear."
    "Then―Rascard―I do thank you," she said, shyly. "May I call him Jewel, because I love him better than any jewels you could give me?"
    "Her," Rascard said, "I got you a female; they are gentler and more even-tempered house dogs. I thought you would like a dog who would stay home and keep you company, and a male would be out running about and exploring the countryside."
    "She is a darling, and Jewel is a better name for a female than a male," said Erminie, eagerly hugging the sleepy puppy, whose shining coat was almost the same color as her own bright hair. "She is the choicest of my jewels, then, and shall be my baby till I have one of my own."
    She rocked the puppy, crooning over it happily, while Rascard, watching her with great tenderness,
    thought, Yes, she will be a good mother to my children; she is gentle and loving with little things.
    He tucked the puppy in beside them, and she came willingly into his arms.
    Midsummer quickly faded, and snow once again lay in the passes of Hammerfell. Jewel grew from a lollopy puppy, all big feet and floppy ears, into a sleek and dignified bitch, the constant companion of the young duchess as she went daily about the castle. With growing confidence that she could fulfill the duties of her new position, and basking in the knowledge that her marriage was a happy one, Erminie seemed prettier; and if now and again she mourned for the young playmate who should have been her husband, she did so in secret and with the full knowledge that her husband mourned no less.
    One morning, as she bid him sit for the breakfast they always took together in a high room overlooking the valley, Rascard looked down from the heights and said, "My dear, your eyes are better than mine; what is it I see below?"
    She came and looked out over the frosty crags where a small party labored up the icy trail. "There are riders; seven or eight of them, and they bear a banner of black and white―but I cannot see the device." What she did not say was that she felt an undefined sense of impending trouble; and even as she spoke, her husband said with a note of trepidation, "We have heard too little of Storn since we were married, my love."
    "Did you expect him to come and eat a piece of our wedding cake, or to send us send us wedding gifts?"
    "No more than I expect him to send our son a silver porringer as a naming-gift," said Rascard, "but these days have been too peaceful; I wonder what he is planning?" As he looked at the loose gown she wore, his face darkened with worry, but at mention of her child, Erminie smiled in peaceful self-absorption.
    "With the new moon our son may be with us," she said, looking at the orb of violet hanging in the day-sky, pale and shadowy and waning from full. "As for Storn, his capture of Alaric was the last move; perhaps he feels that the next move in the game should be yours. Or maybe he has grown tired of the feud."
    "If he wished for peace, he need only have returned Alaric's body," said