"I have missed," said Sholto.
"Come hither and look," she said, without turning round.
And when he looked, lo, the thick iron had been cut through almost
without bending. The sides of the break were fresh, bright, and true.
"Now look at the edge of your sword," she said.
There was no slightest dint anywhere upon it, so that Sholto,
armourer's son as he was, turned about the blade to see if by any
chance he could have smitten with the reverse.
Failing in this, he could only kneel to his lady and say, "This is a
great gift--I am not worthy."
For in these times of peril jewels and lands were as nothing to the
value of such a suit of armour, which kings and princes might well
have made war to obtain.
The faintest disembodied ghost of a smile passed over the face of the
Countess of Douglas.
"It is the best I can do with it now," she said, "and at least no one
of the Avondales shall ever possess it."
After the Lady Douglas had armed the young knight and sped him upon
his quest, Sholto departed over the bridge where the surly custodian
still grumbled at his horse's feet trampling his clean wooden
flooring.
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