Alas, it would be well if you could, without offence.' 'Why, whom should I offend then ?' the Queen said, sniffing--'your ladyship ?' 'A greater,' said Jehane.
'You think the King would be offended ?' 'Madame,' Jehane said, 'he could be offended; but so would you be.' The Queen-Mother tightened hold.

'I am not easily offended, mistress,' she said, and smiled rather bleakly.
Jehane also smiled, but with patience, not trying to get free her wrist.
'My blood would offend you.

You dare not bleed me.' 'Death in life!' the Queen cried, 'is there any but the King to stop me now ?' 'Madame,' Jehane answered, 'there is the spoken word against you, the spirit of prophecy.' Then her jailer saw that Jehane's eyes were green, and very steady.

This checked her.
'Who speaks?
Who prophesies ?' Jehane told her, 'The leper in a desert place, saying, "Beware the Count's cap and the Count's bed; for so sure as thou liest in either thou art wife of a dead man and of his killer."' The Queen-Mother, a very religious woman, took this saying soberly.

She dropped Jehane's wrist, stared at and about her, looked up, looked down; then said, 'Tell me more of this, my girl.' 'Hey, Madame,' said Jehane, 'I will gladly tell you the whole.