บทที่ บทที่ 20 · WALTER IS BIDDEN TO ANOTHER TRYST

. WALTER IS BIDDEN TO ANOTHER TRYST

So came he into the pillared hall, and there he found the Lady walking to

and fro by the high-seat; and when he drew nigh she turned on him, and

said in a voice rather eager than angry: "What hast thou done, Squire?

Why art thou come before me?"

He was abashed, and bowed before her and said: "O gracious Lady, thou

badest me service, and I have been about it."

She said: "Tell me then, tell me, what hath betided?"

"Lady," said he, "when I entered the thicket of thy swooning I found

there no carcase of the lion, nor any sign of the dragging away of him."

She looked full in his face for a little, and then went to her chair, and

sat down therein; and in a little while spake to him in a softer voice,

and said: "Did I not tell thee that some enemy had done that unto me? and

lo! now thou seest that so it is."

Then was she silent again, and knit her brows and set her teeth; and

thereafter she spake harshly and fiercely: "But I will overcome her, and

make her days evil, but keep death away from her, that she may die many

times over; and know all the sickness of the heart, when foes be nigh,

and friends afar, and there is none to deliver!"

Her eyes flashed, and her face was dark with anger; but she turned and

caught Walter's eyes, and the sternness of his face, and she softened at

once, and said: "But thou! this hath little to do with thee; and now to

thee I speak: Now cometh even and night. Go thou to thy chamber, and

there shalt thou find raiment worthy of thee, what thou now art, and what

thou shalt be; do on the same, and make thyself most goodly, and then

come thou hither and eat and drink with me, and afterwards depart whither

thou wilt, till the night has worn to its midmost; and then come thou to

my chamber, to wit, through the ivory door in the gallery above; and then

and there shall I tell thee a thing, and it shall be for the weal both of

thee and of me, but for the grief and woe of the Enemy."

Therewith she reached her hand to him, and he kissed it, and departed and

came to his chamber, and found raiment therebefore rich beyond measure;

and he wondered if any new snare lay therein: yet if there were, he saw

no way whereby he might escape it, so he did it on, and became as the

most glorious of kings, and yet lovelier than any king of the world.

Sithence he went his way into the pillared hall, when it was now night,

and without the moon was up, and the trees of the wood as still as

images. But within the hall shone bright with many candles, and the

fountain glittered in the light of them, as it ran tinkling sweetly into

the little stream; and the silvern bridges gleamed, and the pillars shone

all round about.

And there on the dais was a table dight most royally, and the Lady

sitting thereat, clad in her most glorious array, and behind her the Maid

standing humbly, yet clad in precious web of shimmering gold, but with

feet unshod, and the iron ring upon her ankle.

So Walter came his ways to the high-seat, and the Lady rose and greeted

him, and took him by the hands, and kissed him on either cheek, and sat

him down beside her. So they fell to their meat, and the Maid served

them; but the Lady took no more heed of her than if she were one of the

pillars of the hall; but Walter she caressed oft with sweet words, and

the touch of her hand, making him drink out of her cup and eat out of her

dish. As to him, he was bashful by seeming, but verily fearful; he took

the Lady's caresses with what grace he might, and durst not so much as

glance at her Maid. Long indeed seemed that banquet to him, and longer

yet endured the weariness of his abiding there, kind to his foe and

unkind to his friend; for after the banquet they still sat a while, and

the Lady talked much to Walter about many things of the ways of the

world, and he answered what he might, distraught as he was with the

thought of those two trysts which he had to deal with.

At last spake the Lady and said: "Now must I leave thee for a little, and

thou wottest where and how we shall meet next; and meanwhile disport thee

as thou wilt, so that thou weary not thyself, for I love to see thee

joyous."

Then she arose stately and grand; but she kissed Walter on the mouth ere

she turned to go out of the hall. The Maid followed her; but or ever she

was quite gone, she stooped and made that sign, and looked over her

shoulder at Walter, as if in entreaty to him, and there was fear and

anguish in her face; but he nodded his head to her in yea-say of the

tryst in the hazel-copse, and in a trice she was gone.

Walter went down the hall, and forth into the early night; but in the

jaws of the porch he came up against the King's Son, who, gazing at his

attire glittering with all its gems in the moonlight, laughed out, and

said: "Now may it be seen how thou art risen in degree above me, whereas

I am but a king's son, and that a king of a far country; whereas thou art

a king of kings, or shalt be this night, yea, and of this very country

wherein we both are."

Now Walter saw the mock which lay under his words; but he kept back his

wrath, and answered: "Fair sir, art thou as well contented with thy lot

as when the sun went down? Hast thou no doubt or fear? Will the Maid

verily keep tryst with thee, or hath she given thee yea-say but to escape

thee this time? Or, again, may she not turn to the Lady and appeal to

her against thee?"

Now when he had spoken these words, he repented thereof, and feared for

himself and the Maid, lest he had stirred some misgiving in that young

man's foolish heart. But the King's Son did but laugh, and answered

nought but to Walter's last words, and said: "Yea, yea! this word of

thine showeth how little thou wottest of that which lieth betwixt my

darling and thine. Doth the lamb appeal from the shepherd to the wolf?

Even so shall the Maid appeal from me to thy Lady. What! ask thy Lady at

thy leisure what her wont hath been with her thrall; she shall think it a

fair tale to tell thee thereof. But thereof is my Maid all whole now by

reason of her wisdom in leechcraft, or somewhat more. And now I tell

thee again, that the beforesaid Maid must needs do my will; for if I be

the deep sea, and I deem not so ill of myself, that other one is the

devil; as belike thou shalt find out for thyself later on. Yea, all is

well with me, and more than well."

And therewith he swung merrily into the litten hall. But Walter went out

into the moonlit night, and wandered about for an hour or more, and stole

warily into the hall and thence into his own chamber. There he did off

that royal array, and did his own raiment upon him; he girt him with

sword and knife, took his bow and quiver, and stole down and out again,

even as he had come in. Then he fetched a compass, and came down into

the hazel-coppice from the north, and lay hidden there while the night

wore, till he deemed it would lack but little of midnight.