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followed Bernard back inside with a firm step. Bemused, Terence watched them go. After a moment he noticed Eileen approaching.
    "Did you see that?" Terence asked. Eileen nodded. "I wonder what's gotten that young fellow in such a stew."
    "Well," Eileen said, "I can't say for sure, since I don't speak Greek."
    "Is that what they speak? I wondered."
    "But if I had to guess," Eileen continued calmly, "I would say he was telling his master that Alexander, Emperor of Constantinople, has just asked Sarah to marry him."

    "What am I supposed to do?" Sarah demanded in exasperation. It was just before the state dinner for the visitors from Constantinople. Terence and Gawain had stopped by Eileen's chambers to escort her and Sarah.
    "By what Guinevere told me," Eileen said, "you handled it very well."
    "I put him offfor a while," Sarah said. "That's all."
    "What actually happened?" asked Gawain. "I've heard three different stories already, and none of them make sense."
    "It
doesn't
make sense!" Sarah said. "It was right after the little welcome ceremony in the courtyard. I'd gone off with Guinevere to her rooms, just to catch up, and a moment later King Arthur showed up with this Alexander. He wanted to introduce him to the queen, I suppose, but naturally he introduced us both. So then Alexander fawned over us both for a minute, telling us how beautiful we both are and rot like that, and then, out of the blue, he dropped on one knee and asked if I would be his empress."
    "What did you say?" Gawain asked, his eyes bright.
    "I said I'd just met him and that I could hardly marry a complete stranger. So he smiled and said he looked forward to getting to know me better."
    "How ... romantic," said Gawain unsteadily. He was trying to conceal his amusement, but he wasn't very good at it.
    "That's what Guinevere said," snorted Sarah. "She says it's the most beautiful thing she's ever heard, just like in the minstrel's love songs. And it
is,
too! It's
exactly
like that rubbish. What in the world would possess a man to propose to someone he met twenty seconds before?"
    "Does the emperor know anything about you?" asked Terence suddenly.
    "Obviously not," replied Gawain. "He proposed to her, didn't he?"
    "Shut up, Gawain," Sarah replied absently. "No, nothing really. Arthur just introduced me as his cousin Lady Sarah." She frowned. "Surely that's not it. Just wanting to marry into Arthur's family?"
    "I've no idea," Terence admitted. "I was just wondering."
    "Well, while you're wondering, why don't you wonder how I'm going to avoid this Alexander? Should I skip the dinner tonight?"
    "Afraid?" asked Gawain.
    "Yes."
    Gawain shook his head slowly. "Lancelot tells me how you once faced a fully armored knight in single combat," he pointed out.
    "Kid stuff," Sarah replied.
    Eileen, who had been waiting patiently by the door through all this, finally spoke. "Sarah, don't be foolish. You're making a great deal out of nothing. You will come to dinner tonight and will be polite to the emperor. If he asks you again to marry him, you will answer. If you don't care for the idea, you will say no. Now come along. We're going to be late."
    Sarah and Gawain and Terence murmured, "Yes, ma'am," and followed.
    Though he watched Emperor Alexander closely during the dinner, Terence still could not tell what had prompted his marriage proposal. That he regarded King Arthur with great reverence was obvious, so it was possible that he had asked Sarah to marry him so as to form an alliance with his hero. On the other hand, his expression when he looked at Sarah was undeniably filled with admiration. Sarah, for her part, was quellingly polite, replying to all Alexander's comments tersely and with a cold correctness. No matter how earnestly the emperor begged her to call him Alexander, she continued to refer to him as
Your Highness.
But Alexander didn't seem at all discouraged.
    "Dearest Lady Sarah," Alexander said during the third course, "it is your maidenly reserve that is