“Sir Percival, whom Arthur and his knighthood called the Pure.”
“Sir Percival, whom Arthur and his knighthood called the Pure.”
Tory Drew came forward to be appointed the third Knight. She looked as if she were dreaming, as if unaware that they were only going through a picturesque ceremony as an unusual Christmas entertainment. Of course they intended to add a new element of romance and of service to their work, but no one of the other girls appeared so deeply affected.
Miss Mason was conscious of this, so that Tory’s attitude influenced her own. Moreover, Tory’s short red-gold hair, her white face with the wide dark eyes and slender chin to-night wore an expression of singular ardor and intensity.
The Troop Captain and her friends knew that Tory through her vivid imagination had overleaped the bounds of centuries. She saw in vague outline not her own Girl Scouts and Miss Mason, not the dearly beloved room in the House in the Woods transformed to suit their purpose, but a castle in Britain, King Arthur and his famous Knights.
Miss Mason had chosen for Tory the one Knight in all the Table Round who seeks and finds the Holy Grail.
“Galahad:And one there was among us, ever movedAmong us in white armour, Galahad.‘God make thee good as thou art beautiful,’Said Arthur when he dubbed him knight.”
“Galahad:And one there was among us, ever movedAmong us in white armour, Galahad.‘God make thee good as thou art beautiful,’Said Arthur when he dubbed him knight.”
“Galahad:And one there was among us, ever movedAmong us in white armour, Galahad.‘God make thee good as thou art beautiful,’Said Arthur when he dubbed him knight.”
“Galahad:
And one there was among us, ever moved
Among us in white armour, Galahad.
‘God make thee good as thou art beautiful,’
Said Arthur when he dubbed him knight.”
When the winter evening had passed into a memory, there was a never-ending argument as to which one of the eight girls made the most impressive Knight. Of the three who stood out from the rest, Dorothy McClain was perhaps the favorite.
Her height and athletic figure, the slender, upright shoulders and the upward lift of her head gave her a kind of frank and boyish air. She was more conscious than Tory of herself and her surroundings, for she flushed hotly. Then the color left her cheeks after her investiture:
“Gareth, the last tall son of Lot and Bellicent.A knight of Arthur working out his will,Follow the Christ, the King,Live pure, speak true, right wrong,Else wherefore born?”
“Gareth, the last tall son of Lot and Bellicent.A knight of Arthur working out his will,Follow the Christ, the King,Live pure, speak true, right wrong,Else wherefore born?”
“Gareth, the last tall son of Lot and Bellicent.A knight of Arthur working out his will,Follow the Christ, the King,Live pure, speak true, right wrong,Else wherefore born?”
“Gareth, the last tall son of Lot and Bellicent.
A knight of Arthur working out his will,
Follow the Christ, the King,
Live pure, speak true, right wrong,
Else wherefore born?”
Teresa Peterson felt pleased with the selection the Troop Captain made for her. Not that she saw any particular meaning in the ceremony, save that it was picturesque and afforded an opportunity for wearing a fancycostume. She was looking forward with keener anticipation to the dance Margaret Hale was to give the Girl and Boy Scouts later in the Christmas holidays.
Nevertheless, her dusky face with soft curling, dark hair and pouting lips appeared serene and good-humored as she accepted her new title.
“Pelleas, and the sweet smell of the fieldsPast, and the sunshine came along with him.Make me thy knight, because I know, Sir King,All that belongs to knighthood. And I loveThis new Knight, Sir Pelleas of the Isles.”
“Pelleas, and the sweet smell of the fieldsPast, and the sunshine came along with him.Make me thy knight, because I know, Sir King,All that belongs to knighthood. And I loveThis new Knight, Sir Pelleas of the Isles.”
“Pelleas, and the sweet smell of the fieldsPast, and the sunshine came along with him.Make me thy knight, because I know, Sir King,All that belongs to knighthood. And I loveThis new Knight, Sir Pelleas of the Isles.”
“Pelleas, and the sweet smell of the fields
Past, and the sunshine came along with him.
Make me thy knight, because I know, Sir King,
All that belongs to knighthood. And I love
This new Knight, Sir Pelleas of the Isles.”
Edith Linder became Tristram:
“One knightAnd armoured all in forest green, whereonThere tript a hundred tiny silver deer,And wearing but a holly spray for crestWith ever scattering berries, and a shield,A harp, a spear, a bugle.Sir Tristram of the Woods.”
“One knightAnd armoured all in forest green, whereonThere tript a hundred tiny silver deer,And wearing but a holly spray for crestWith ever scattering berries, and a shield,A harp, a spear, a bugle.Sir Tristram of the Woods.”
“One knightAnd armoured all in forest green, whereonThere tript a hundred tiny silver deer,And wearing but a holly spray for crestWith ever scattering berries, and a shield,A harp, a spear, a bugle.Sir Tristram of the Woods.”
“One knight
And armoured all in forest green, whereon
There tript a hundred tiny silver deer,
And wearing but a holly spray for crest
With ever scattering berries, and a shield,
A harp, a spear, a bugle.
Sir Tristram of the Woods.”
Characteristic of Louise Miller that a burning sense of her own awkwardness and unworthiness almost destroyed the pleasure she would otherwise have felt in her knighthood!
“In the midnight and flourish of his May,Gawain, surnamed the Courteous,Fair and strong.”
“In the midnight and flourish of his May,Gawain, surnamed the Courteous,Fair and strong.”
“In the midnight and flourish of his May,Gawain, surnamed the Courteous,Fair and strong.”
“In the midnight and flourish of his May,
Gawain, surnamed the Courteous,
Fair and strong.”
Martha Greaves, the English Girl Guide, who had spent the previous summer in Beechwood Forest with the Girl Scouts of the Eagle’s Wing, had not returned to her home in England with the close of the summer. She had no parents to call her back and preferred to remain until the return to Westhaven of Tory Drew’s father and stepmother; the latter was her cousin and nearest relative. She was not, however, living with Tory in the old Fenton homestead, but boarding with Mr. and Mrs. Peters, Joan’s father and mother.
Martha had insisted that she had no place in to-night’s ceremony, notwithstanding the fact that as an English girl she might have a closer historical claim than the others. However, she yielded to the persuasion of the Girl Scouts. This evening she had discarded her Girl Guide uniform and wore the knightly costume of the others:
“Geraint,The brave Geraint, a knight of Arthur’s court,Wearing neither hunting dressNor weapon, save a golden-hilted brand,A purple scarf, at either end whereofThere swung an apple of the purest gold.”
“Geraint,The brave Geraint, a knight of Arthur’s court,Wearing neither hunting dressNor weapon, save a golden-hilted brand,A purple scarf, at either end whereofThere swung an apple of the purest gold.”
“Geraint,The brave Geraint, a knight of Arthur’s court,Wearing neither hunting dressNor weapon, save a golden-hilted brand,A purple scarf, at either end whereofThere swung an apple of the purest gold.”
“Geraint,
The brave Geraint, a knight of Arthur’s court,
Wearing neither hunting dress
Nor weapon, save a golden-hilted brand,
A purple scarf, at either end whereof
There swung an apple of the purest gold.”