The Stars in the Pool

f the woman of his dream. But the thing was not. And remembering the Radiant One, and the things that she had said, he knew that, will-he, nill-he, he must fare forth in quest of that woman whose form was radiance, and whose eyes were stars--her from whom he should fashion his Mother of Men.

Then spake Ellaline, the Queen, with quiet voice, saying, "What wouldst thou, Flame, son of Lokus? My daughter Roseheart hath seeming of some ill-hap with which thou hast to do."

[Sidenote: Flame Speaketh Plainly]

[Sidenote: The Pain of Roseheart]

Therewith did Flame drop the hands of Roseheart his love, and standing before the Queen her mother, he spake on this wise: "I know not what this thing may be, but somewhat hath been laid upon my will, so that choice it hath none. Wherefore, though thy daughter Roseheart is as the blood of my heart to me, and fain would I take her to wife straightway, yet first must I go across the sea, and through all the earth, until I find a certai