"Ha! the little Damoiselle Helena?"[#] replied the Queen, smiling very kindly. "Be welcome, my child. I have indeed heard much of you; this brother of yours thinks nobody like you in the world,--not even one, eh, Sir Count?--Isabel! I desire thee to make much of the Damoiselle, and let her feel herself at home. And,--Melisende! I pray thee, give order for her lodging, and let her women be seen to. Ah!--here comes another who will be glad to be acquainted with you."
[#] Helen is really quite distinct from Ellen, of which lost Elaine is the older form. The former is a Greek name signifying _attractive, captivating_. The latter is the feminine of the Celtic name Alain,--more generally written Alan or Allan,--and means _bright-haired_. Eleanor (it is a mistake as regards philology to write Elinor) is simply an amplification of Ellen by the addition of "or," _gold_. It denotes, therefore, _hair bright as gold_. Annora is a corruption of Eleanor, and Nora or Norah a further contraction of Annora.
I turned round to see at whom the Queen was looking. An inner door of the chamber had just opened, and two ladies were coming into the room. At the one I scarcely looked, save to see that she was old, and wore the garb of a nun. The other fixed my eyes in an instant.
Shall I say she was beautiful? I do not know. She has a face about which one never thinks whether it is beautiful or not. She is so sweet, so sweet! Her hair is long, of a glossy golden hue: her eyes are dark grey, and all her soul shines out in them. Her age seemed about twenty. And Guy said behind me, in a whisper--
Something in Guy's tone made me glance suddenly at his face. My heart felt for a moment as if it stopped beating. The thing that I feared was come upon me. The whole prophecy was fulfilled: the beautiful lady stood before me. I should be first with Guy no longer.
But I did not feel so grieved as I expected. And when Lady Sybil put her arms round me, and kissed me, and told me I should be her dear little sister,--though I felt that matters must have gone very far indeed, yet somehow I was almost glad that Guy had found a heart to love him in this strange land.
The old nun proved to be a cousin of the Queen, whom they call Lady Judith.[#] She is an eremitess, and dwells in her cell in the very Palace itself. I notice that Lady Sybil seems very fond of her.