initial commit of ebook 234HEADmain

2 files changed, 5802 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/old/chilc10.txt b/old/chilc10.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cded70a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/chilc10.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5802 @@
+Project Gutenberg's Etext of Child Christopher by William Morris
+
+Please take a look at the important information in this header.
+We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an
+electronic path open for the next readers.  Do not remove this.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations*
+
+Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and
+further information is included below.  We need your donations.
+
+
+Child Christopher, by William Morris
+
+March, 1995 [Etext #234]
+
+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Child Christopher by Morris
+This file should be named chilc10.txt or chilc10.zip******
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, chilc11.txt.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, chilc10a.txt.
+
+
+   Prepared by John Hamm <John_Hamm@MindLink.bc.ca>
+
+   Scanned with OmniPage Professional 5.0 OCR software
+    donated to Project Gutenberg by Caere Corporation.
+
+
+We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance
+of the official release dates, for time for better editing.
+
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.  To be sure you have an
+up to date first edition [xxxxx10x.xxx] please check file sizes
+in the first week of the next month.  Since our ftp program has
+a bug in it that scrambles the date [tried to fix and failed] a
+look at the file size will have to do, but we will try to see a
+new copy has at least one byte more or less.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+fifty hours is one conservative estimate for how long it we take
+to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.  This
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If our value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar, then we produce 2
+million dollars per hour this year we, will have to do four text
+files per month:  thus upping our productivity from one million.
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext
+Files by the December 31, 2001.  [10,000 x 100,000,000=Trillion]
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is 10% of the expected number of computer users by the end
+of the year 2001.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+All donations should be made to "Project Gutenberg/IBC", and are
+tax deductible to the extent allowable by law ("IBC" is Illinois
+Benedictine College).  (Subscriptions to our paper newsletter go
+to IBC, too)
+
+For these and other matters, please mail to:
+
+Project Gutenberg
+P. O. Box  2782
+Champaign, IL 61825
+
+When all other email fails try our Michael S. Hart, Executive
+Director:
+hart@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu (internet)   hart@uiucvmd   (bitnet)
+
+We would prefer to send you this information by email
+(Internet, Bitnet, Compuserve, ATTMAIL or MCImail).
+
+******
+If you have an FTP program (or emulator), please
+FTP directly to the Project Gutenberg archives:
+[Mac users, do NOT point and click. . .type]
+
+ftp mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu
+login:  anonymous
+password:  your@login
+cd etext/etext91
+or cd etext92
+or cd etext93 [for new books]  [now also in cd etext/etext93]
+or cd etext/articles [get suggest gut for more information]
+dir [to see files]
+get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files]
+GET 0INDEX.GUT
+for a list of books
+and
+GET NEW GUT for general information
+and
+MGET GUT* for newsletters.
+
+**Information prepared by the Project Gutenberg legal advisor**
+(Three Pages)
+
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here?  You know:  lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault.  So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you.  It also tells you how
+you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement.  If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from.  If you received this etext on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-
+tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor
+Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at
+Illinois Benedictine College (the "Project").  Among other
+things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext
+under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works.  Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects".  Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this
+etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from.  If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy.  If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS".  NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors,
+officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost
+and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or
+indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause:
+[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification,
+or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     etext or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word pro-
+     cessing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The etext may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the etext (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the
+     net profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Illinois
+     Benedictine College" within the 60 days following each
+     date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare)
+     your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time,
+scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty
+free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution
+you can think of.  Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg
+Association / Illinois Benedictine College".
+
+This "Small Print!" by Charles B. Kramer, Attorney
+Internet (72600.2026@compuserve.com); TEL:  (212-254-5093)
+*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*
+
+
+
+Child Christopher and Goldilind the Fair
+by William Morris
+1895
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+OF THE KING OF OAKENREALM, AND HIS WIFE AND HIS CHILD.
+
+
+Of old there was a land which was so much a woodland, that a
+minstrel thereof said it that a squirrel might go from end
+to end, and all about, from tree to tree, and never touch
+the earth:  therefore was that land called Oakenrealm.
+
+The lord and king thereof was a stark man, and so great a
+warrior that in his youth he took no delight in aught else
+save battle and tourneys.  But when he was hard on forty
+years old, he came across a daughter of a certain lord, whom
+he had vanquished, and his eyes bewrayed him into longing,
+so that he gave back to the said lord the havings he had
+conquered of him that he might lay the maiden in his kingly
+bed.  So he brought her home with him to Oakenrealm and
+wedded her.
+
+Tells the tale that he rued not his bargain, but loved her
+so dearly that for a year round he wore no armour, save when
+she bade him play in the tilt-yard for her desport and
+pride.
+
+So wore the days till she went with child and was near her
+time, and then it betid that three kings who marched on
+Oakenrealm banded them together against him, and his lords
+and thanes cried out on him to lead them to battle, and it
+behoved him to do as they would.
+
+So he sent out the tokens and bade an hosting at his chief
+city, and when all was ready he said farewell to his wife
+and her babe unborn, and went his ways to battle once more:
+but fierce was his heart against the foemen, that they had
+dragged him away from his love and his joy.
+
+Even amidst of his land he joined battle with the host of
+the ravagers, and the tale of them is short to tell, for
+they were as the wheat before the hook.  But as he followed
+up the chase, a mere thrall of the fleers turned on him and
+cast his spear, and it reached him whereas his hawberk was
+broken, and stood deep in, so that he fell to earth
+unmighty:  and when his lords and chieftains drew about him,
+and cunning men strove to heal him, it was of no avail, and
+he knew that his soul was departing.  Then he sent for a
+priest, and for the Marshal of the host, who was a great
+lord, and the son of his father's brother, and in few words
+bade him look to the babe whom his wife bore about, and if
+it were a man, to cherish him and do him to learn all that a
+king ought to know; and if it were a maiden, that he should
+look to her wedding well and worthily:  and he let swear him
+on his sword, on the edges and the hilts, that he would do
+even so, and be true unto his child if child there were:
+and he bade him have rule, if so be the lords would, and all
+the people, till the child were of age to be king:  and the
+Marshal swore, and all the lords who stood around bare
+witness to his swearing.  Thereafter the priest houselled
+the King, and he received his Creator, and a little while
+after his soul departed.
+
+But the Marshal followed up the fleeing foe, and two battles
+more he fought before he beat them flat to earth; and then
+they craved for peace, and he went back to the city in
+mickle honour.
+
+But in the King's city of Oakenham he found but little joy;
+for both the King was bemoaned, whereas he had been no hard
+man to his folk; and also, when the tidings and the King's
+corpse came back to Oakenrealm, his Lady and Queen took sick
+for sorrow and fear, and fell into labour of her child, and
+in childing of a man-bairn she died, but the lad lived, and
+was like to do well.
+
+So there was one funeral for the slain King and for her whom
+his slaying had slain:  and when that was done, the little
+king was borne to the font, and at his christening he gat to
+name Christopher.
+
+Thereafter the Marshal summoned all them that were due
+thereto to come and give homage to the new king, and even so
+did they, though he were but a babe, yea, and who had but
+just now been a king lying in his mother's womb.  But when
+the homage was done, then the Marshal called together the
+wise men, and told them how the King that was had given him
+in charge his son as then unborn, and the ruling of the
+realm till the said son were come to man's estate:  but he
+bade them seek one worthier if they had heart to gainsay the
+word of their dying lord.  Then all they said that he was
+worthy and mighty and the choice of their dear lord, and
+that they would have none but he.
+
+So then was the great folk-mote called, and the same matter
+was laid before all the people, and none said aught against
+it, whereas no man was ready to name another to that charge
+and rule, even had it been his own self.
+
+Now then by law was the Marshal, who hight Rolf, lord and
+earl of the land of Oakenrealm.  He ruled well and strongly,
+and was a fell warrior:  he was well befriended by many of
+the great; and the rest of them feared him and his friends:
+as for the commonalty, they saw that he held the realm in
+peace; and for the rest, they knew little and saw less of
+him, and they paid to his bailiffs and sheriffs as little as
+they could, and more than they would.  But whereas that left
+them somewhat to grind their teeth on, and they were not
+harried, they were not so ill content.  So the Marshal
+throve, and lacked nothing of a king's place save the bare
+name.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+OF THE KING'S SON.
+
+
+As for the King's son, to whom the folk had of late done
+homage as king, he was at first seen about a corner of the
+High House with his nurses; and then in a while it was said,
+and the tale noted, but not much, that he must needs go for
+his health's sake, and because he was puny, to some stead
+amongst the fields, and folk heard say that he was gone to
+the strong house of a knight somewhat stricken in years, who
+was called Lord Richard the Lean.  The said house was some
+twelve miles from Oakenham, not far from the northern edge
+of the wild-wood.  But in a while, scarce more than a year,
+Lord Richard brake up house at the said castle, and went
+southward through the forest.  Of this departure was little
+said, for he was not a man amongst the foremost.  As for the
+King's little son, if any remembered that he was in the
+hands of the said Lord Richard, none said aught about it;
+for if any thought of the little babe at all, they said to
+themselves, Never will he come to be king.
+
+Now as for Lord Richard the Lean, he went far through the
+wood, and until he was come to another house of his, that
+stood in a clearing somewhat near to where Oakenrealm
+marched on another country, which hight Meadham; though the
+said wild-wood ended not where Oakenrealm ended, but
+stretched a good way into Meadham; and betwixt one and the
+other much rough country there was.
+
+It is to be said that amongst those who went to this
+stronghold of the woods was the little King Christopher, no
+longer puny, but a stout babe enough:  so he was borne
+amongst the serving men and thralls to the castle of the
+Outer March; and he was in no wise treated as a great man's
+son; but there was more than one woman who was kind to him,
+and as he waxed in strength and beauty month by month, both
+carle and quean fell to noting him, and, for as little as he
+was, he began to be well-beloved.
+
+As to the stead where he was nourished, though it were far
+away amongst the woods, it was no such lonely or savage
+place:  besides the castle and the houses of it, there was a
+merry thorpe in the clearing, the houses whereof were set
+down by the side of a clear and pleasant little stream.
+Moreover the goodmen and swains of the said township were no
+ill folk, but bold of heart, free of speech, and goodly of
+favour; and the women of them fair, kind, and trusty.
+Whiles came folk journeying in to Oakenrealm or out to
+Meadham, and of these some were minstrels, who had with them
+tidings of what was astir whereas folk were thicker in the
+world, and some chapmen, who chaffered with the
+thorpe-dwellers, and took of them the woodland spoil for
+such outland goods as those woodmen needed.
+
+So wore the years, and in Oakenham King Christopher was well
+nigh forgotten, and in the wild-wood had never been known
+clearly for King's son.  At first, by command of Rolf the
+Marshal, a messenger came every year from Lord Richard with
+a letter that told of how the lad Christopher did.  But when
+five years were worn, the Marshal bade send him tidings
+thereof every three years; and by then it was come to the
+twelfth year, and still the tidings were that the lad throve
+ever, and meanwhile the Marshal sat fast in his seat with
+none to gainsay, the word went to Lord Richard that he
+should send no more, for that he, the Marshal, had heard
+enough of the boy; and if he throve it were well, and if
+not, it was no worse.  So wore the days and the years.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+OF THE KING OF MEADHAM AND HIS DAUGHTER.
+
+
+Tells the tale that in the country which lay south of
+Oakenrealm, and was called Meadham, there was in these days
+a king whose wife was dead, but had left him a fair
+daughter, who was born some four years after King
+Christopher.  A good man was this King Roland, mild,
+bounteous, and no regarder of persons in his justice; and
+well-beloved he was of his folk:  yet could not their love
+keep him alive; for, whenas his daughter was of the age of
+twelve years, he sickened unto death; and so, when he knew
+that his end drew near, he sent for the wisest of his wise
+men, and they came unto him sorrowing in the High House of
+his chiefest city, which hight Meadhamstead.  So he bade
+them sit down nigh unto his bed, and took up the word and
+spake:
+
+"Masters, and my good lords, ye may see clearly that a
+sundering is at hand, and that I must needs make a long
+journey, whence I shall come back never; now I would, and am
+verily of duty bound thereto, that I leave behind me some
+good order in the land. Furthermore, I would that my
+daughter, when she is of age thereto, should be Queen in
+Meadham, and rule the land; neither will it be many years
+before she shall be of ripe age for ruling, if ever she may
+be; and I deem not that there shall be any lack in her,
+whereas her mother could all courtesy, and was as wise as a
+woman may be.  But how say ye, my masters?"
+
+So they all with one consent said Yea, and they would ask
+for no better king than their lady his daughter.  Then said
+the King:
+
+"Hearken carefully, for my time is short:  Yet is she young
+and a maiden, though she be wise.  Now therefore do I need
+some man well looked to of the folk, who shall rule the land
+in her name till she be of eighteen winters, and who shall
+be her good friend and counsellor into all wisdom
+thereafter.  Which of you, my masters, is meet for this
+matter?"
+
+Then they all looked one on the other, and spake not.  And
+the King said:  "Speak, some one of you, without fear; this
+is no time for tarrying."
+
+Thereon spake an elder, the oldest of them, and said:
+"Lord, this is the very truth, that none of us here present
+are meet for this office:  whereas, among other matters, we
+be all unmeet for battle; some of us have never been
+warriors, and other some are past the age for leading an
+host.  To say the sooth, King, there is but one man in
+Meadham who may do what thou wilt, and not fail; both for
+his wisdom, and his might afield, and the account which is
+had of him amongst the people; and that man is Earl
+Geoffrey, of the Southern Marches."
+
+"Ye say sooth," quoth the King; "but is he down in the
+South, or nigher to hand?"
+
+Said the elder:  "He is as now in Meadhamstead, and may be
+in this chamber in scant half an hour."  So the King bade
+send for him, and there was silence in the chamber till he
+came in, clad in a scarlet kirtle and a white cloak, and
+with his sword by his side.  He was a tall man, bigly made;
+somewhat pale of face, black and curly of hair; blue-eyed,
+thin-lipped, and hook-nosed as an eagle; a man warrior-like,
+and somewhat fierce of aspect.  He knelt down by the King's
+bedside, and asked him in a sorrowful voice what he would,
+and the King said:  "I ask a great matter of thee, and all
+these my wise men, and I myself, withal, deem that thou
+canst do it, and thou alone--nay, hearken:  I am departing,
+and I would have thee hold my place, and do unto my people
+even what I would do if I myself were living; and to my
+daughter as nigh to that as may be.  I say all this thou
+mayst do, if thou wilt be as trusty and leal to me after I
+am dead, as thou hast seemed to all men's eyes to have been
+while I was living.  What sayest thou?"
+
+The Earl had hidden his face in the coverlet of the bed
+while the King was speaking; but now he lifted up his face,
+weeping, and said:  "Kinsman and friend and King; this is
+nought hard to do; but if it were, yet would I do it."
+
+"It is well," said the King:  "my heart fails me and my
+voice; so give heed, and set thine ear close to my mouth:
+hearken, belike my daughter Goldilind shall be one of the
+fairest of women; I bid thee wed her to the fairest of men
+and the strongest, and to none other."
+
+Thereat his voice failed him indeed, and he lay still; but
+he died not, till presently the priest came to him, and, as
+he might, houselled him:  then he departed.
+
+As for Earl Geoffrey, when the King was buried, and the
+homages done to the maiden Goldilind, he did no worse than
+those wise men deemed of him, but bestirred him, and looked
+full sagely into all the matters of the kingdom, and did so
+well therein that all men praised his rule perforce, whether
+they loved him or not; and sooth to say he was not much
+beloved.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+OF THE MAIDEN GOLDILIND.
+
+
+AMIDST of all his other business Earl Geoffrey bethought him
+in a while of the dead King's daughter, and he gave her in
+charge to a gentlewoman, somewhat stricken in years, a widow
+of high lineage, but not over wealthy.  She dwelt in her own
+house in a fair valley some twenty miles from Meadhamstead:
+thereabode Goldilind till a year and a half was worn, and
+had due observance, but little love, and not much kindness
+from the said gentlewoman, who hight Dame Elinor Leashowe.
+Howbeit, time and again came knights and ladies and lords to
+see the little lady, and kissed her hand and did obeisance
+to her; yet more came to her in the first three months of
+her sojourn at Leashowe than the second, and more in the
+second than the third.
+
+At last, on a day when the said year and a half was fully
+worn, thither came Earl Geoffrey with a company of knights
+and men-at-arms, and he did obeisance, as due was, to his
+master's daughter, and then spake awhile privily with Dame
+Elinor; and thereafter they went into the hall, he, and she,
+and Goldilind, and there before all men he spake aloud and
+said:
+
+"My Lady Goldilind, meseemeth ye dwell here all too
+straitly; for neither is this house of Leashowe great enough
+for thy state, and the entertainment of the knights and
+lords who shall have will to seek to thee hither; nor is the
+wealth of thy liege dame and governante as great as it
+should be, and as thou, meseemeth, wouldst have it.
+Wherefore I have been considering thy desires herein, and if
+thou deem it meet to give a gift to Dame Elinor, and live
+queenlier thyself than now thou dost, then mayst thou give
+unto her the Castle of Greenharbour, and the six manors
+appertaining thereto, and withal the rights of wild-wood and
+fen and fell that lie thereabout.  Also, if thou wilt, thou
+mayst honour the said castle with abiding there awhile at
+thy pleasure; and I shall see to it that thou have due meney
+to go with thee thither.  How sayest thou, my lady?"
+
+Amongst that company there were two or three who looked at
+each other and half smiled; and two or three looked on the
+maiden, who was goodly as of her years, as if with
+compassion; but the more part kept countenance in full
+courtly wise.
+
+Then spake Goldilind in a quavering voice (for she was
+afraid and wise), and she said: "Cousin and Earl, we will
+that all this be done; and it likes me well to eke the
+wealth of this lady and my good friend Dame Elinor."
+
+Quoth Earl Geoffrey:  "Kneel before thy lady, Dame, and put
+thine hands between hers and thank her for the gift."  So
+Dame Elinor knelt down, and did homage and obeisance for her
+new land; and Goldilind raised her up and kissed her, and
+bade her sit down beside her, and spake to her kindly; and
+all men praised the maiden for her gentle and courteous
+ways; and Dame Elinor smiled upon her and them, what she
+could.
+
+She was small of body and sleek; but her cheeks somewhat
+flagging; brown eyes she had, long, half opened; thin lips,
+and chin somewhat falling away from her mouth; hard on fifty
+winters had she seen; yet there have been those who were
+older and goodlier both.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+GOLDILIND COMES TO GREENHARBOUR.
+
+
+But a little while tarried the Earl Geoffrey at Leashowe,
+but departed next morning and came to Meadhamstead.  A month
+thereafter came folk from him to Leashowe, to wit, the new
+meney for the new abode of Goldilind; amongst whom was a
+goodly band of men-at-arms, led by an old lord pinched and
+peevish of face, who kneeled to Goldilind as the new
+burgreve of Greenharbour; and a chaplain, a black canon,
+young, broad-cheeked and fresh-looking, but hard-faced and
+unlovely; three new damsels withal were come for the young
+Queen, not young maids, but stalworth women, well-grown, and
+two of them hard-featured; the third, tall, black-haired,
+and a goodly-fashioned body.
+
+Now when these were come, who were all under the rule of
+Dame Elinor, there was no gainsaying the departure to the
+new home; and in two days' time they went their ways from
+Leashowe.  But though Goldilind was young, she was wise, and
+her heart misgave her, when she was amidst this new meney,
+that she was not riding toward glory and honour, and a world
+of worship and friends beloved.  Howbeit, whatso might lie
+before her, she put a good face upon it, and did to those
+about her queenly and with all courtesy.
+
+Five days they rode from Leashowe north away, by thorpe and
+town and mead and river, till the land became little
+peopled, and the sixth day they rode the wild-wood ways,
+where was no folk, save now and again the little cot of some
+forester or collier; but the seventh day, about noon, they
+came into a clearing of the wood, a rugged little plain of
+lea-land, mingled with marish, with a little deal of
+acre-land in barley and rye, round about a score of poor
+frame-houses set down scattermeal about the lea.  But on a
+long ridge, at the northern end of the said plain, was a
+grey castle, strong, and with big and high towers, yet not
+so much greater than was Leashowe, deemed Goldilind, as for
+a dwelling-house.
+
+Howbeit, they entered the said castle, and within, as
+without, it was somewhat grim, though nought was lacking of
+plenishing due for folk knightly.  Long it were to tell of
+its walls and baileys and chambers; but let this suffice,
+that on the north side, toward the thick forest, was a
+garden of green-sward and flowers and potherbs; and a
+garth-wall of grey stone, not very high, was the only
+defence thereof toward the wood, but it was overlooked by a
+tall tower of the great wall, which hight the Foresters'
+Tower.  In the said outer garth-wall also was a postern,
+whereby there was not seldom coming in and going out.
+
+Now when Goldilind had been in her chamber for a few days,
+she found out for certain, what she had before misdoubted,
+that she had been brought from Leashowe and the peopled
+parts near to Meadhamstead unto the uttermost parts of the
+realm to be kept in prison there.
+
+Howbeit, it was in a way prison courteous; she was still
+served with observance, and bowed before, and called my lady
+and queen, and so forth:  also she might go from chamber to
+hall and chapel, to and fro, yet scarce alone; and into the
+garden she might go, yet not for the more part
+unaccompanied; and even at whiles she went out a-gates, but
+then ever with folk on the right hand and the left.
+Forsooth, whiles and again, within the next two years of her
+abode at Greenharbour, out of gates she went and alone; but
+that was as the prisoner who strives to be free (although
+she had, forsooth, no thought or hope of escape), and as the
+prisoner brought back was she chastised when she came within
+gates again.
+
+Everywhere, to be short, within and about the Castle of
+Greenharbour, did Goldilind meet the will and the tyranny of
+the little sleek widow, Dame Elinor, to whom both carle and
+quean in that corner of the world were but as servants and
+slaves to do her will; and the said Elinor, who at first was
+but spiteful in word and look toward her lady, waxed worse
+as time wore and as the blossom of the King's daughter's
+womanhood began to unfold, till at last the she-jailer had
+scarce feasted any day when she had not in some wise grieved
+and tormented her prisoner; and whatever she did, none had
+might to say her nay.
+
+But Goldilind took all with a high heart, and her courage
+grew with her years, nor would she bow the head before any
+grief, but took to her whatsoever solace might come to her;
+as the pleasure of the sun and the wind, and the beholding
+of the greenery of the wood, and the fowl and the beasts
+playing, which oft she saw afar, and whiles anear, though
+whiles, forsooth, she saw nought of it all, whereas she was
+shut up betwixt four walls, and that not of her chamber, but
+of some bare and foul prison of the Castle, which, with
+other griefs, must she needs thole under the name and guise
+of penance.
+
+However, she waxed so exceeding fair and sweet and lovely,
+that the loveliness of her pierced to the hearts of many of
+her jailers, so that some of them, and specially of the
+squires and men-at-arms, would do her some easement which
+they might do unrebuked, or not sorely rebuked; as bringing
+her flowers in the spring, or whiles a singing-bird or a
+squirrel; and an old man there was of the men-at-arms, who
+would ask leave, and get it at whiles, to come to her in her
+chamber, or the garden? and tell her minstrel tales and the
+like for her joyance.  Sooth to say, even the pinched heart
+of the old Burgreve was somewhat touched by her; and he
+alone had any might to stand between her and Dame Elinor; so
+that but for him it had gone much harder with her than it
+did.
+
+For the rest, none entered the Castle from the world
+without, nay not so much as a travelling monk, or a friar on
+his wanderings, save and except some messenger of Earl
+Geoffrey who had errand with Dame Elinor or the Burgreve.
+
+So wore the days and the seasons, till it was now more than
+four years since she had left Leashowe, and her eighteenth
+summer was beginning.
+
+But now the tale leaves telling of Goldilind, and goes back
+to the matters of Oakenrealm, and therein to what has to do
+with King Christopher and Rolf the Marshal.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+HOW ROLF THE MARSHAL DREAMS A DREAM AND COMES TO THE CASTLE
+OF THE UTTERMOST MARCH.
+
+
+Now this same summer, when King Christopher was of twenty
+years and two, Rolf the Marshal, sleeping one noontide in
+the King's garden at Oakenham, dreamed a dream. For
+himseemed that there came through the garth-gate a woman
+fair and tall, and clad in nought but oaken-leaves, who led
+by the hand an exceeding goodly young man of twenty summers,
+and his visage like to the last battle-dead King of
+Oakenrealm when he was a young man.  And the said woman led
+the swain up to the Marshal, who asked in his mind what
+these two were:  and the woman answered his thought and
+said:  "I am the Woman of the Woods, and the Landwight of
+Oakenrealm; and this lovely lad whose hand I hold is my King
+and thy King and the King of Oakenrealm.  Wake, fool--wake!
+and look to it what thou wilt do!"
+
+And therewith he woke up crying out, and drew forth his
+sword.  But when he was fully awakened, he was ashamed, and
+went into the hall, and sat in his high-seat, and strove to
+think out of his troubled mind; but for all he might do, he
+fell asleep again; and again in the hall he dreamed as he
+had dreamed in the garden:  and when he awoke from his dream
+he had no thought in his head but how he might the speediest
+come to the house of Lord Richard the Lean, and look to the
+matter of his lord's son and see him with his eyes, and, if
+it might be, take some measure with the threat which lay in
+the lad's life. Nought he tarried, but set off in an hour's
+time with no more company than four men-at-arms and an old
+squire of his, who was wont to do his bidding without
+question, whether it were good or evil.
+
+So they went by frith and fell, by wood and fair ways, till
+in two days' time they were come by undern within sight of
+the Castle of the Outer March, and entered into the street
+of the thorpe aforesaid; and they saw that there were no
+folk therein and at the house-doors save old carles and
+carlines scarce wayworthy, and little children who might not
+go afoot.  But from the field anigh the thorpe came the
+sound of shouting and glad voices, and through the lanes of
+the houses they saw on the field many people in gay raiment
+going to and fro, as though there were games and sports
+toward.
+
+Thereof Lord Rolf heeded nought, but went his ways straight
+to the Castle, and was brought with all honour into the
+hall, and thither came Lord Richard the Lean, hastening and
+half afeard, and did obeisance to him; and there were but a
+few in the hall, and they stood out of earshot of the two
+lords.
+
+The Marshal spoke graciously to Lord Richard, and made him
+sit beside him, and said in a soft voice:  "We have come to
+see thee, Lord, and how the folk do in the Uttermost
+Marches.  Also we would wot how it goes with a lad whom we
+sent to thee when he was yet a babe, whereas he was some
+byblow of the late King, our lord and master, and we deemed
+thee both rich enough and kind enough to breed him into
+thriving without increasing pride upon him:  and, firstly,
+is the lad yet alive?"
+
+He knitted his brow as he spake, for carefulness of soul;
+but Lord Richard smiled upon him, though as one somewhat
+troubled, and answered:  "Lord Marshal, I thank thee for
+visiting this poor house; and I shall tell thee first that
+the lad lives, and hath thriven marvellously, though he be
+somewhat unruly, and will abide no correction now these last
+six years.  Sooth to say, there is now no story of his being
+anywise akin to our late Lord King; though true it is that
+the folk in this faraway corner of the land call him King
+Christopher, but only in a manner of jesting.  But it is no
+jest wherein they say that they will gainsay him nought, and
+that especially the young women.  Yet I will say of him that
+he is wise, and asketh not overmuch; the more is the sorrow
+of many of the maidens.  A fell woodsman he is, and
+exceeding stark, and as yet heedeth more of valiance than of
+the love of woman."
+
+The Marshal looked no less troubled than before at these
+words; he said:  "I would see this young man speedily."
+
+"So shall it be, Lord," said Lord Richard.  Therewith he
+called to him a squire, and said: "Go thou down into the
+thorpe, and bring hither Christopher, for that a great lord
+is here who would set him to do a deed of woodcraft, such as
+is more than the wont of men."
+
+So the squire went his ways, and was gone a little while,
+and meantime drew nigh to the hall a sound of triumphing
+songs and shouts, and right up to the hall doors; then
+entered the squire, and by his side came a tall young man,
+clad but in a white linen shirt and deerskin brogues, his
+head crowned with a garland of flowers:  him the squire
+brought up to the lords on the dais, and louted to them, and
+said:  "My lords, I bring you Christopher, and he not
+overwilling, for now hath he been but just crowned king of
+the games down yonder; but when the carles and queans there
+said that they would come with him and bear him company to
+the hall doors, then, forsooth, he yea-said the coming.  It
+were not unmeet that some shame were done him."
+
+"Peace, man!" said Lord Richard, "what hath this to do with
+thee? Seest thou not the Lord Marshal here?" The Lord Rolf
+sat and gazed on the lad, and scowled on him; but
+Christopher saw therein nought but the face of a great lord
+burdened with many cares; so when he had made his obeisance
+he stood up fearlessly and merrily before them.
+
+Sooth to say, he was full fair to look on:  for all his
+strength, which, as ye shall hear, was mighty, all the
+fashion of his limbs and his body was light and clean done,
+and beauteous; and though his skin, where it showed naked,
+was all tanned with the summer, it was fine and sleek and
+kindly, every deal thereof:  bright-eyed and round-cheeked
+he was, with full lips and carven chin, and his hair golden
+brown of hue, and curling crisp about the blossoms of his
+garland.
+
+So must we say that he was such an youngling as most might
+have been in the world, had not man's malice been, and the
+mischief of grudging and the marring of grasping.
+
+But now spake Lord Rolf:  "Sir varlet, they tell me that
+thou art a mighty hunter, and of mickle guile in woodcraft;
+wilt thou then hunt somewhat for me, and bring me home a
+catch seldom seen?"
+
+"Yea, Lord King," said Christopher, "I will at least do my
+best, if thou but tell me where to seek the quarry and
+when."
+
+"It is well," said the Marshal, "and to-morrow my squire,
+whom thou seest yonder, and who hight Simon, shall tell thee
+where the hunt is up, and thou shalt go with him.  But
+hearken! thou shalt not call me king; for to-day there is no
+king in Oakenrealm, and I am but Marshal, and Earl of the
+king that shall be."
+
+The lad fell a-musing for a minute, and then he said:  "Yea,
+Lord Marshal, I shall do thy will:  but meseemeth I have
+heard some tale of one who was but of late king in
+Oakenrealm:  is it not so, Lord?"
+
+"Stint thy talk, young man," cried the Marshal in a harsh
+voice, "and abide to-morrow; who knoweth who shall be king,
+and whether thou or I shall live to see him."
+
+But as he spake the words they seemed to his heart like a
+foretelling of evil, and he turned pale and trembled, and
+said to Christopher:  "Come hither, lad; I will give thee a
+gift, and then shalt thou depart till to-morrow."  So
+Christopher drew near to him, and the Marshal pulled off a
+ring from his finger and set it on the lad's, and said to
+him: "Now depart in peace;" and Christopher bent the knee to
+him and thanked him for the gracious gift of the ruler of
+Oakenrealm, and then went his ways out of the hall, and the
+folk without gave a glad cry as he came amongst them.
+
+But by then he was come to the door, Lord Rolf looked on his
+hand, and saw that, instead of giving the youngling a
+finger-ring which he had bought of a merchant for a price of
+five bezants, as he had meant to do, he had given him a ring
+which the old King had had, whereon was the first letter of
+his name (Christopher to wit), and a device of a crowned
+rose, for this ring was a signet of his.  Wherefore was the
+Marshal once more sore troubled, and he arose, and was half
+minded to run down the hall after Christopher; but he
+refrained him, and presently smiled to himself, and then
+fell a-talking to Lord Richard, sweetly and pleasantly.
+
+SO wore the day to evening; but, ere he went to bed, the
+Lord Rolf had a privy talk, first with Lord Richard, and
+after with his squire Simon.  What followed of that talk ye
+may hear after.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+HOW CHRISTOPHER WENT A JOURNEY INTO THE WILD-WOOD.
+
+
+Next morning Christopher, who slept in the little hall of
+the inner court of the Castle, arose betimes, and came to
+the great gate; but, for as early as he was, there he saw
+the squire Simon abiding him, standing between two strong
+horses; to him he gave the sele of the day, and the squire
+greeted him, but in somewhat surly wise.  Then he said to
+him:  "Well, King Christopher, art thou ready for the road?"
+
+"Yea, as thou seest," said the youngling smiling.  For,
+indeed, he had breeches now beneath his shirt, and a surcoat
+of green woollen over it; boots of deerskin had he withal,
+and spurs thereon:  he was girt with a short sword, and had
+a quiver of arrows at his back, and bare a great bow in his
+hand.
+
+"Yea," quoth Simon, "thou deemest thee a gay swain belike;
+but thou lookest likelier for a deerstealer than a rider,
+thou, hung up to thy shooting-gear.  Deemest thou we go
+a-hunting of the hind?"
+
+Quoth Christopher:  "I wot not, squire; but the great lord
+who lieth sleeping yonder, hath told me that thou shouldest
+give me his errand; and of some hunting or feat of
+wood-craft he spake.  Moreover, this crooked stick can drive
+a shaft through matters harder than a hind's side."
+
+Simon looked confused, and he reddened and stammered
+somewhat as he answered: "Ah, yea:  so it was; I mind me;
+I will tell thee anon."
+
+Said Christopher:  "Withal, squire, if we are wending into
+the wood, as needs we must, unless we ride round about this
+dale in a ring all day, dost thou deem we shall go at a
+gallop many a mile? Nay, fair sir; the horses shall wend a
+foot's pace oftenest, and we shall go a-foot not unseldom
+through the thickets."
+
+Now was Simon come to himself again, and that self was
+surly, so he said:  "Ay, ay, little King, thou deemest thee
+exceeding wise in these woods, dost thou not? and forsooth,
+thou mayst be.  Yet have I tidings for thee."
+
+"Yea, and what be they?" said Christopher.
+
+Simon grinned:  "Even these," said he, "that Dr. Knowall was
+no man's cousin while he lived, and that he died last week."
+
+Therewith he swung himself into his saddle, and Christopher
+laughed merrily at his poor gibe and mounted in like wise.
+
+Wherewithal they rode their ways through the thorpe, and at
+the southern end thereof Simon drew rein, and looked on
+Christopher as if he would ask him something, but asked not.
+Then said Christopher:  "Whither go we now?"
+
+Said Simon:  "It is partly for thee to say:  hearken, I am
+bidden first to ride the Redwater Wood with thee:  knowest
+thou that?"
+
+"Yea," said the lad, "full well:  but which way shall we
+ride it? Wilt thou come out of it at Redwater Head, or Herne
+Moss, or the Long Pools?"
+
+Said Simon:  "We shall make for the Long Pools, if thou
+canst bring me there."
+
+Christopher laughed:  "Aha!" said he, "then am I some
+faraway cousin of Dr. Knowall when the whole tale is told:
+forsooth I can lead thee thither; but tell me, what shall I
+do of valiant deeds at the Long Pools? for there is no
+fire-drake nor effit, nay, nor no giant, nor guileful dwarf,
+nought save mallard and coot, heron and bittern; yea, and
+ague-shivers to boot."
+
+Simon looked sourly on him and said:  "Thou are bidden to go
+with me, young man, or gainsay the Marshal.  Art thou mighty
+enough thereto? For the rest, fear not but that the deed
+shall come to thee one day."
+
+"Nay," said Christopher, "it is all one to me, for I am at
+home in these woods and wastes, I and my shafts.  Tell me of
+the deeds when thou wilt."  But indeed he longed to know the
+deed, and fretted him because of Simon's surliness and
+closeness.  Then he said:  "Well, Squire Simon, let us to
+the road; for thou shalt know that to-night we must needs
+house us under the naked heaven; in nowise can we come to
+the Long Pools before to-morrow morning."
+
+"Yea, and why not?" said the squire; "I have lain in worse
+places."
+
+"Wilt thou tell me thereof?" said Christopher.
+
+"Mayhappen," said Simon, "if to-morrow comes and goes for
+both of us twain."
+
+So they rode their ways through the wood, and baited at
+midday with what Simon bare in his saddle-bags, and then
+went on till night fell on them; then asked Simon how long
+they were from the Long Pools, and Christopher told him that
+they were yet short of them some fifteen miles, and those
+long ones, because of the marish grounds.  So they tethered
+their horses there and ate their supper; and lay down to
+sleep in the house of the woods, by a fire-side which they
+lighted.
+
+But in the midnight Christopher, who was exceeding
+fine-eared, had an inkling of someone moving afoot anigh
+him, and he awoke therewith, and sprang up, his drawn
+short-sword in his hand, and found himself face to face with
+Simon, and he also with his sword drawn.  Simon sprang
+aback, but held up his sword-point, and Christopher, not yet
+fully awake, cried out:  "What wouldst thou? What is it?"
+
+Simon answered, stammering and all abashed:  "Didst thou not
+hear then? it wakened me."
+
+"I heard nought," said Christopher; "what was it?"
+
+"Horses going in the wood," said Simon
+
+"Ah, yea," said Christopher, "it will have been the wild
+colts and the mares; they harbour about these marsh-land
+parts.  Go to sleep again, neighbour, the night is not yet
+half worn; but I will watch a while."
+
+Then Simon sheathed his sword, and turned about and stood
+uneasily a little while, and then cast him down as one who
+would sleep hastily; but slept not forsooth, though he
+presently made semblance of it:  as for Christopher, he drew
+together the brands of the fire, and sat beside it with his
+blade over his knees, until the first beginning of the
+summer dawn was in the sky; then he began to nod, and
+presently lay aback and slept soundly.  Simon slept not, but
+durst not move.  So they lay till it was broad day, and the
+sunbeams came thrusting through the boughs of the thicket.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+CHRISTOPHER COMES TO THE TOFTS.
+
+
+When they arose in the sunshine, Simon went straightway to
+see to the horses, while Christopher stayed by the fire to
+dight their victuals; he was merry enough, and sang to
+himself the while; but when Simon came back again,
+Christopher looked on him sharply, but for a while Simon
+would not meet his eye, though he asked divers questions of
+him concerning little matters, as though he were fain to
+hear Christopher's voice; at last he raised his eyes, and
+looked on him steadily, and then Christopher said:  "Well,
+wayfarer mine, and whither away this morning?"
+
+Said Simon:  "As thou wottest, to the Long Pools."
+
+Said the lad:  "Well, thou keepest thy tidings so close,
+that I will ask thee no more till we come to the Long Pools;
+since there, forsooth, thou must needs tell me; unless we
+sunder company there, whereof I were nought grieving."
+
+"Mayhappen thou shalt fare a long way to-day," muttered
+Simon.
+
+But the lad cried out aloud, while his eye glittered and his
+cheek flushed:  "Belike thou hadst well-nigh opened the door
+thereto last night!" And therewith he leapt to his feet and
+drew his short-sword, and with three deft strokes sheared
+asunder an overhanging beech-bough as thick as a man's
+wrist, that it fell crashing down, and caught Simon amongst
+the fall of its leafy twigs, while Christopher stood
+laughing on him, but with a dangerous lofty look in his
+eyes:  then he turned away quietly toward the horses and
+mounted his nag, and Simon followed and did the like,
+silently; crestfallen he looked, with brooding fierceness in
+his face.
+
+So they rode their ways, and spake but little each to each
+till they came to where the trees of the wood thinned
+speedily, and gave out at last at the foot of a low stony
+slope but little grassed; and when they had ridden up to the
+brow and could see below, Christopher stretched out his
+hand, and said:  "Lo thou the Long Pools, fellow wayfarer!
+and lo some of the tramping; horses that woke thee and not
+me last night."
+
+Forsooth there lay below them a great stretch of grass,
+which whiles ran into mere quagmire, and whiles was sound
+and better grassed; and the said plain was seamed by three
+long shallow pools, with, as it were, grassy causeways
+between them, grown over here and there with ancient alder
+trees; but the stony slope whereon they had reined up bent
+round the plain mostly to the east, as though it were the
+shore of a great water; and far away to the south the hills
+of the forest rose up blue, and not so low at the most, but
+that they were somewhat higher than the crest of the White
+Horse as ye may see it from the little Berkshire hills above
+the Thames.  Down on the firm greensward there was indeed a
+herd of wild horses feeding; mallard and coot swam about the
+waters; the whimbrel laughed from the bent-sides, and three
+herons stood on the side of the causeway seeking a good
+fishing-stead.
+
+Simon sat a-horseback looking askance from the marish to
+Christopher, and said nothing a while; then he spake in a
+low croaking voice, and said:  "So, little King, we have
+come to the Long Pools; now I will ask thee, hast thou been
+further southward than this marish land?"
+
+"That have I," said the lad, "a day's journey further; but
+according to the tales of men it was at the peril of my
+life."
+
+Simon seemed as if he had not noted his last word; he said:
+"Well then, since thou knowest the wild and the wood,
+knowest thou amidst of the thickets there, two lumps of bare
+hills, like bowls turned bottom up, that rise above the
+trees, and on each a tower, and betwixt them a long house."
+
+"Save us, Allhallows!" quoth Christopher, "but thou wilt
+mean the Tofts! Is it so, sir squire?"
+
+"Even so," said Simon.
+
+"And thou knowest what dwellest there, and wouldst have me
+lead thee thither?" said the lad.
+
+"I am so bidden," said Simon; "if thou wilt not do my
+bidding, seek thou some place to hide thee in from the hand
+of the Earl Marshal."
+
+Said the youngling:  "Knowest thou not Jack of the Tofts and
+his seven sons, and what he is, and that he dwelleth there?"
+
+Said Simon:  "I know of him; yea, and himself I know, and
+that he dwelleth there; and I wot that men call him an
+outlaw, and that many rich men shall lack ere he lacks.
+What then?"
+
+"This," said Christopher, "that, as all tales tell, he will
+take my life if I ride thither. And," said he, turning to
+Simon, "this is belike what thou wouldest with me?" And
+therewith he drew out his sword, for his bow was unstrung.
+
+But Simon sat still and let his sword abide, and said,
+sourly enough:  "Thou art a fool to think I am training thee
+to thy death by him; for I have no will to die, and why
+shall he not slay me also? Now again I say unto thee, thou
+hast the choice, either to lead me to the Tofts, where shall
+be the deed for thee to do, or to hide thee in some hole, as
+I said afore, from the vengeance of the Lord of Oakenrealm.
+But as for thy sword, thou mayst put it up, for I will not
+fight with thee, but rather let thee go with a string to thy
+leg, if thou wilt not be wise and do as thy lords ordain for
+thee."
+
+Christopher sheathed his sword, and a smile came into his
+face, as if some new thought were stirring in him, and he
+said:  "Well, since thou wilt not fight with me, and I but a
+lad, I will e'en do thy will and thine errand to Jack of the
+Tofts.  Maybe he is not so black as he is painted, and not
+all tales told of him are true.  But some of them I will
+tell thee as we ride along."
+
+"And some thereof I know already, O woodland knight," said
+Simon, as they rode down the bent, and Christopher led on
+toward the green causeway betwixt the waters.  "Tell me,"
+quoth he, when they had ridden awhile, "is this one of thy
+tales, how Jack of the Tofts went to the Yule feast of a
+great baron in the guise of a minstrel, and, even as they
+bore in the boar's head, smote the said baron on the neck,
+so that his head lay by the head of the swine on the
+Christmas board?"
+
+"Yea," said Christopher, "and how Jack cried out:  'Two
+heads of swine, one good to eat, one good to burn.' But, my
+master, thou shalt know that this manslaying was not for
+nought:  whereas the Baron of Greenlake had erewhile slain
+Jack's father in felon wise, where he could strike no stroke
+for life; and two of his brethren also had he slain, and
+made the said Jack an outlaw, and he all sackless.  In the
+Uttermost March we deem that he had a case against the
+baron."
+
+"Hah!" said Simon.  "Is this next tale true, that this Jack
+o' the Tofts slew a good knight before the altar, so that
+the priest's mass-hackle was all wet with his blood, whereas
+the said priest was in the act of putting the holy body into
+the open mouth of the said knight?"
+
+Christopher said eagerly:  "True was it, by the Rood! and
+well was it done, for that same Sir Raoul was an ugly
+traitor, who had knelt down where he died to wed the Body of
+the Lord to a foul lie in his mouth; whereas the man who
+knelt beside him he had trained to his destruction, and was
+even then doing the first deal of his treason by forswearing
+him there."
+
+"And that man who knelt with him there," said Simon, "what
+betid to him?"
+
+Said Christopher:  "He went out of the church with Jack of
+the Tofts that minute of the stroke; and to the Tofts he
+went with him, and abode with him freely:  and a valiant man
+he was...and is."
+
+"Hah!" said Simon again.  "And then there is this:  that the
+seven sons of Jack of the Tofts bore off perforce four fair
+maidens of gentle blood from the castle wherein they dwelt,
+serving a high dame in all honour; and that moreover, they
+hanged the said dame over the battlements of her own castle.
+Is this true, fair sir?"
+
+"True is it as the gospel," said Christopher:  "yet many say
+that the hanged dame had somewhat less than her deserts; for
+a foul & cruel whore had she been; and had done many to be
+done to death, and stood by while they were pined.  And the
+like had she done with those four damsels, had there not
+been the stout sons of Jack of the Tofts; so that the dear
+maidens were somewhat more than willing to be borne away."
+
+Simon grinned:  "Well, lad," said he, "I see that thou
+knowest Jack of the Tofts even better than I do; so why in
+the devil's name thou art loth to lead me to him, I wot
+not."
+
+Christopher reddened, and held his peace awhile; then he
+said:  "Well fellow-farer, at least I shall know something
+of him ere next midnight."
+
+"Yea," said Simon, "and shall we not come to the Tofts
+before nightfall?"
+
+"Let us essay it," said Christopher, "and do our best, it
+yet lacketh three hours of noon." Therewith he spurred on,
+for the greensward was hard under the hooves, and they had
+yet some way to go before they should come amongst the trees
+and thickets.
+
+Into the said wood they came, and rode all day diligently,
+but night fell on them before they saw either house or man
+or devil; then said Simon:  "Why should we go any further
+before dawn? Will it not be best to come to this perilous
+house by daylight?"
+
+Said Christopher:  "There be perils in the wood as well as
+in the house.  If we lie down here, maybe Jack's folk may
+come upon us sleeping, and some mischance may befall us.
+Withal, hereabout be no wild horses to wake thee and warn
+thee of thy foeman anigh. Let us press on; there is a moon,
+though she be somewhat hidden by clouds, and meseemeth the
+way lieth clear before me; neither are we a great way from
+the Tofts."
+
+Then Simon rode close up to Christopher, and took his rein
+and stayed him, and said to him, as one who prayeth:  "Young
+man, willest thou my death?"
+
+"That is as it may be," said Christopher; "willest thou
+mine?"
+
+Simon held his peace awhile, and Christopher might not see
+what was in his face amidst the gathering dusk; but he
+twitched his rein out of the squire's hand, as if he would
+hasten onward; then the squire said:  "Nay, I pray thee
+abide and hear a word of me."
+
+"Speak then," said Christopher, "but hasten, for I hunger,
+and I would we were in the hall."  And therewith he laughed.
+
+Said Simon:  "Thus it is:  if I go back to my lord and bear
+no token of having done his errand to Jack of the Tofts,
+then am I in evil case; and if I come to the Tofts, I wot
+well that Jack is a man fierce of heart, and ready of hand:
+now, therefore, I pray thee give me thy word to be my
+warrant, so far as thou mayst be, with this woodman and his
+sons."
+
+At that word Christopher brake out a-laughing loudly, till
+all the dusk wood rang with the merry sound of his fresh
+voice; at last he said:  "Well, well, thou art but a craven
+to be a secret murderer:  the Lord God would have had an
+easy bargain of Cain, had he been such as thou.  Come on,
+and do thine errand to Jack of the Tofts, and I will hold
+thee harmless, so far as I may.  Though, sooth to say, I
+guessed what thine errand was, after the horses waked thee
+and put a naked sword in thine hand last night.  Marry! I
+had no inkling of it when we left the Castle yesterday
+morning, but deemed thy lord needed me to do him some
+service.  Come on then! or rather go thou on before me a
+pace; there, where thou seest the glimmer betwixt the
+beech-trees yonder; if thou goest astray, I am anigh thee
+for a guide.  And I say that we shall not go far without
+tidings."
+
+Simon went on perforce, as he was bidden, and they rode thus
+a while slowly, Christopher now and then crying, as they
+went:  "To the right, squire! To the left! Straight on now!"
+and so on.  But suddenly they heard voices, and it was as if
+the wood had all burst out into fire, so bright a light
+shone out.  Christopher shouted, and hastened on to pass
+Simon, going quite close to his right side thereby, and as
+he did so, he saw steel flashing in his hand, and turned
+sidling to guard him, but ere he could do aught Simon drave
+a broad dagger into his side, and then turned about and fled
+the way they had come, so far as he knew how.
+
+Christopher fell from his horse at once as the stroke came
+home, but straightway therewith were there men with torches
+round about him, a dozen of them; men tall and wild-looking
+in the firelight; and one of them, a slim young man with
+long red hair falling all about his shoulders, knelt down by
+him, while the others held his horse and gat his feet out of
+the stirrups.
+
+The red-head laid his hand on his breast, and raised his
+head up till the light of a torch fell on it, and then he
+cried out:  "Masters, here hath been a felon; the man hath
+been sticked, and the deed hath to do with us; for lo you,
+this is none other than little Christopher of the Uttermost
+March, who stumbled on the Tofts last Yule, and with whom we
+were so merry together.  Here, thou Robert of Maisey, do thy
+leechdom on him if he be yet living; but if he be dead, or
+dieth of his hurt, then do I take the feud on me, to follow
+it to the utmost against the slayer; even I, David the Red,
+though I be the youngest of the sons of Jack of the Tofts.
+For this man I meant should be my fellow in field and fell,
+ganging and galloping, in hall and high-place, in cot and in
+choir, before woman and warrior, and priest and
+proud-prince.  Now thou Robert, how does he?"
+
+Said the man who had looked to Christopher's wound, and had
+put aside his coat and shirt:  "He is sore hurt, but
+meseemeth not deadly.  Nay, belike he may live as long as
+thou, or longer, whereas thou wilt ever be shoving thy red
+head and lank body wheresoever knocks are going."
+
+David rose with a sigh of one who is lightened of a load,
+and said:  "Well Robert, when thou hast bound his wound let
+us have him into the house:  Ho lads! there is light enough
+to cut some boughs and make a litter for him.  But, ho
+again! has no one gone after the felon to take him?"
+
+Robert grinned up from his job with the hurt man:  "Nay,
+King David," said he, "it is mostly thy business; mayhappen
+thou wilt lay thy heels on thy neck and after him."
+
+The red-head stamped on the ground, and half drew his sax,
+and shoved it back again unto the sheath, and then said
+angrily:  "I marvel at thee, Robert, that thou didst not
+send a man or two at once after the felon:  how may I leave
+my comrade and sweet board-fellow lying hurt in the
+wild-wood? Art thou growing over old for our woodland ways,
+wherein loitering bringeth louting?"
+
+Robert chuckled and said:  "I thought thou wouldst take the
+fly in thy mouth, foster-son: if the felon escape Ralph
+Longshanks and Anthony Green, then hath he the devil's luck;
+and they be after him."
+
+"That is well," said the young man, "though I would I were
+with them."  And therewith he walked up and down
+impatiently, while the others were getting ready the litter
+of boughs.
+
+At last it was done, and Christopher laid thereon, and they
+all went on together through the woodland path, the torches
+still flaring about them.  Presently they came out into a
+clearing of the wood, and lo, looming great and black before
+them against the sky, where the moon had now broken out of
+the clouds somewhat, the masses of the tofts, and at the top
+of the northernmost of them a light in the upper window of a
+tall square tower.  Withal the yellow-litten windows of a
+long house showed on the plain below the tofts; but little
+else of the house might be seen, save that, as they drew
+near, the walls brake out in doubtful light here and there
+as the torches smote them.
+
+So came they to a deep porch, where they quenched all the
+torches save one, and entered a great hall through it, David
+and two other tall young men going first, and Robert Maisey
+going beside the bier.  The said hall was lighted with
+candles, but not very brightly, save at the upper end; but
+amidmost a flickering heap of logs sent a thin line of blue
+smoke up to the luffer.  There were some sixty folk in the
+hall, scattered about the end-long tables, a good few of
+whom were women, well grown and comely enough, so far as
+could be seen under the scanty candle-light.  At the
+high-table, withal, were sitting both men and women, and as
+they drew near to the greater light of it, there could be
+seen in the chief seat a man, past middle age, tall,
+wide-shouldered and thin-flanked, with a short peaked beard
+and close-cut grizzled hair; he was high of cheekbones,
+thin-faced, with grey eyes, both big and gentle-looking; he
+was clad in a green coat welted with gold.  Beside him sat a
+woman, tall and big-made, but very fair of face, though she
+were little younger, belike, than the man.  Out from these
+two sat four men and four women, man by man and woman by
+woman, on either side of the high-seat.  Of the said men,
+one was of long red hair as David, and like to him in all
+wise, but older; the others were of like fashion to him in
+the high-seat.  Shortly to say it, his sons they were, as
+David and the two young men with him.  The four women who
+sat with these men were all fair and young, and one of them,
+she who drank out of the red-head's cup, so fair, and with
+such a pleasant slim grace, that her like were not easy to
+be found.
+
+Again, to shorten the tale, there in the hall before
+Christopher, who lay unwotting, were Jack of the Tofts and
+his seven sons, and the four wives of four of the same, whom
+they had won from the Wailful Castle, when they, with their
+father, put an end to the evil woman, and the great
+she-tyrant of the Land betwixt the Wood and the River.
+
+Now when David and his were come up to the dais, they stayed
+them, and their father spake from his high-seat and said:
+"What is to do, ye three? and what catch have ye?"
+
+Said David:  "I would fain hope 'tis the catch of a life
+that or I love; for here is come thy guest of last Yule,
+even little Christopher, who wrestled with thee and threw
+thee after thou hadst thrown all of us, and he lying along
+and hurt, smitten down by a felon hard on our very doors.
+What will ye do with him?"
+
+"What," said Jack of the Tofts, "but tend him and heal him
+and cherish him.  And when he is well, then we shall see.
+But where is the felon who smote him?"
+
+Said David:  "He fled away a-horseback ere we came to the
+field of deed, and Anthony Green and Ralph Longshanks are
+gone after him, and belike, will take him."
+
+"Mayhappen not," said the master.  "Now, forsooth, I have an
+inkling of what this may mean; whereas there can be but one
+man whose business may be the taking of our little guest's
+life.  But let all be till he be healed and may tell us his
+tale; and, if he telleth it as I deem he will, then shall we
+seek further tidings.  Meanwhile, if ye take the felon, keep
+him heedfully till I may see him; for then may I have a true
+tale out of him, even before Christopher is hale again."
+
+So therewith David and Robert, with two or three others,
+brought Christopher to a chamber, and did what leechdoms to
+him they might; but Jack of the Tofts, and his sons and
+their fair wives, and his other folk, made merry in the hall
+of the Tofts.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+SQUIRE SIMON COMES BACK TO OAKENHAM.  THE EARL MARSHAL TAKEN
+TO KING IN OAKENREALM.
+
+
+Now as to Squire Simon, whether the devil helped him, or his
+luck, or were it his own cunning and his, horse's stoutness,
+we wot not; but in any case he fell not in with Ralph
+Longshanks and Anthony Green, but rode as far and as fast as
+his horse would go, and then lay down in the wild-wood; and
+on the morrow arose and went his ways, and came in the even
+to the Castle of the Uttermost March, and went on thence the
+morrow after on a fresh horse to Oakenham.  There he made no
+delay but went straight to the High House, and had privy
+speech of the Earl Marshal; and him he told how he had
+smitten Christopher, and, as he deemed, slain him.  The Earl
+Marshal looked on him grimly and said:  "Where is the ring
+then?"
+
+"I have it not," said Simon.  "How might I light down to
+take it, when the seven sons were hard on us?" And therewith
+he told him all the tale, and how he had risen to slay
+Christopher the even before; and how he had found out after
+that the youngling had become guest and fosterling of the
+folk of the Tofts; and how warily Christopher had ridden, so
+that he, Simon, had had to do his best at the last moment.
+"And now, Lord," quoth he, "I see that it will be my luck to
+have grudging of thee, or even worse it may be; yea, or thou
+wilt be presently telling me that I am a liar and never
+struck the stroke: but I warrant me that by this time Jack
+of the Tofts knoweth better, for I left my knife in the
+youngling's breast, and belike he wotteth of my weapons.
+Well, then, if thou wilt be quit of me, thou hast but to
+forbear upholding me against the Toft folk, and then am I
+gone without any to-do of thee."
+
+Earl Rolf spake quietly in answer, though his face was
+somewhat troubled:  "Nay, Simon, I doubt thee not, not one
+word; for why shouldest thou lie to me? nor do I deem thou
+wouldest, for thou art trusty and worthy.  Yet sore I doubt
+if the child be dead. Well, even so let it be, for I am
+alive; and full surely I am mightier than Jack of the Tofts,
+both to uphold thee against him (wherein I shall not fail),
+and otherwise.  But may God make me even as that young man
+if I be not mightier yet in a few days.  But now do thou go
+and eat and drink and take thy disport; for thou hast served
+me well; and in a little while I shall make thee knight and
+lord, and do all I can to pleasure thee."
+
+So then Simon knelt to the Earl and made obeisance to him,
+and arose and went his ways, light-hearted and merry.
+
+But within the month it so befel that some of the lords and
+dukes came to the Earl Marshal, and prayed him to call
+together a great Folk-mote of all Oakenrealm; and he
+answered them graciously, and behight them to do as they
+would; and even so did he.
+
+And that Mote was very great, and whenas it was hallowed,
+there arose a great lord, grey and ancient, and bewailed him
+before the folk, that they had no king over Oakenrealm to
+uphold the laws & ward the land; and "Will ye live bare and
+kingless for ever?" said he at last.  "Will ye not choose
+you a king, and crown him, before I die, and we others of
+the realm who are old and worn?" Then he sat down, and
+another arose, and in plain terms he bade them take the Earl
+Marshal to king.  And then arose one after other, and each
+sang the same song, till the hearts of the people grew warm
+with the big words, and at first many, and then more cried
+out:  "A King, a King! The Earl Marshal for King! Earl Rolf
+for King!" So that at last the voices rose into a great
+roar, and sword clashed on shield, and they who were about
+the Earl turned to him and upraised him on a great
+war-shield, and he stood thereon above the folk with a naked
+sword in his hand, and all the folk shouted about him.
+
+Thereafter the chiefs and all the mightiest came and did
+homage to him for King of Oakenrealm as he sat on the Hill
+of the Folk-mote:  and that night there was once more a King
+of Oakenrealm, and Earl Rolf was no more, but King Rolf
+ruled the people.
+
+But now the tale leaves telling of him, and turns again to
+Christopher the woodman, who lay sick of his hurt in the
+House of the Tofts.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+OF CHRISTOPHER AT THE TOFTS.
+
+
+Christopher was six weeks ere he could come and go as he was
+wont; but it was but a few days ere he was well enough to
+tell his tale to Jack of the Tofts and his seven bold sons;
+and they cherished him and made much of him, and so
+especially did David, the youngest son, to his board-fellow
+and troth-brother.
+
+On a day when he was well-nigh whole, as he sat under an
+oak-tree nigh the house, in the cool of the evening, Jack of
+the Tofts came to him and sat beside him, and made him tell
+his tale to him once more, and when he was done he said to
+him:  "Foster-son, for so I would have thee deem of thyself,
+what is the thing that thou rememberest earliest in thy
+days?"
+
+Said Christopher:  "A cot without the Castle walls at the
+Uttermost Marches, and a kind woman therein, big,
+sandy-haired, and freckled, and a lad that was white-haired
+and sturdy, somewhat bigger than I.  And I mind me standing
+up against the door-post of the cot and seeing men-at-arms
+riding by in white armour, and one of them throwing an apple
+to me, and I raised my arm to throw it back at him, but my
+nurse (for somehow I knew she was not my mother) caught my
+hand and drew me back indoors, and I heard the men laughing
+behind me.  And then a little after my nurse took me into
+the Castle court, and there was again the man who had thrown
+me the apple, sitting on a bench therein, clad in a scarlet
+gown furred with brown fur; and she led me up to him, and he
+stooped down and chucked me under the chin and put his hand
+on my head, and looked at my nurse and said:  'Yea, he is a
+big lad, and groweth apace, whereas he is but of six
+winters.'  'Nay, Lord,' said my nurse, 'he is but scantly
+five.'  He knit his brows and said: 'Nay, I tell thee he is
+six.'  She shook her head, but said nought, and the great
+man scowled on her and said:  'Mistress, wilt thou set thy
+word against mine? Know now that this child is of six years.
+Now then, how old is he?' She said faintly:  'Six years.'
+Said he:  'Look to it that thy head and thy mouth forget it
+not, else shall we make thy back remember it.'  Then he put
+his hand on my head again, and said:  'Well, I say thou art
+a big lad for six years;' and therewith he gave me a silver
+penny; and even as he spake, came up a grey-clad squire to
+him and looked on me curiously.  Then I went away with my
+nurse, and wondered why she was grown so pale, whereas she
+was mostly red-cheeked and jolly.  But when she had brought
+me into the cot again, she kissed me and clipped me, weeping
+sorely the while; wherefore I wept, though I knew not why.
+Sithence, I soon came to know that the man was the lord and
+governor of the Castle, as ye may well wot; but to this hour
+I know not what he meant by threatening my nurse."
+
+Said Jack:  "And how old art thou now, Christopher mine?"
+
+Said the youngling, laughing:  "By my lord the Castellan's
+reckoning I am twenty and two years; but if thou wilt trow
+my good and kind nurse, that yet liveth a kind dame, thou
+must take twelve months off the tale."
+
+Jack sat silent a little; then he laughed and said:  "Well,
+thou art a mickle babe, Christopher, and it may be that one
+day many a man shall know it.  But now tell me again; thou
+hadst said to me before that thou hast known neither father
+nor mother, brother nor sisters:  is it so, verily?"
+
+Said Christopher:  "Never a kinsman of blood have I, though
+many well-wishers."
+
+Said Jack:  "Well, now hast thou father and mother, brethren
+and sisters, though they be of the sort of man-slayers and
+strong-thieves and outlaws; yet they love thee, lad, and
+thou mayst one day find out how far thou mayst trust them."
+
+Christopher nodded and smiled at him merrily; then he fell
+silent awhile, and the outlaw sat looking on him; at last he
+said suddenly:  "Foster-father, tell me what I am, and of
+what kindred, I pray thee; for, methinks, thou knowest
+thereof; and what wonder, wise man as thou art."
+
+"Forsooth, son Christopher, I have a deeming thereof, or
+somewhat more, and when it is waxen greater yet, I will tell
+it thee one day, but not now.  But hearken! for I have other
+tidings for thee.  Thou art now whole and strong, and in a
+few days thou mayst wend the wild-wood as stoutly as e'er a
+one of us.  Now, therefore, how sayest thou, if I bid thee
+fare a two days' journey with David and Gilbert thy
+brethren, and thy sister Joanna, till they bring thee to a
+fair little stead which I call mine own, to dwell there
+awhile? For, meseemeth, lad, that the air of the Tofts here
+may not be overwholesome unto thee."
+
+Christopher reddened, and he half rose up, and said:  "What
+is this, foster-father? Is it that there shall be battle at
+the Tofts, and that thou wouldst have me away thence? Am I
+then such a weakling?"
+
+Said Jack, laughing:  "Be still now, thou sticked one.  The
+Tofts go down to battle at some whiles; but seldom comet
+battle to the Tofts; and no battle do I look for now.  But
+do my bidding, sweet fosterling, and it will be better for
+me and better for thee, and may, perchance, put off battle
+for awhile; which to me as now were not unhandy.  If thou
+wilt but abide at Littledale for somewhile, there shall be
+going and coming betwixt us, and thou shalt drink thy Yule
+at the Tofts, and go back afterwards, and ever shalt thou
+have thy sweet fellows with thee; so be wise, since thou
+goest not perforce."
+
+"Yea, yea," said Christopher, laughing; "thou puttest force
+on no man, is it not so, foster-father? Wherefore I will go,
+and uncompelled."
+
+Therewith came up to them, from out of the wild-wood, David,
+and with him Joanna, who was the wife of Gilbert, and one of
+those fair maidens from the Wailful Castle, though not the
+fairest of them; they had been a-hunting, for ever those
+three would willingly go together, Gilbert, David, and
+Joanna; and now Gilbert had abided behind, to dight the
+quarry for fetching home.  Christopher looked on the two
+joyfully, as a man getting whole after sickness smiles on
+goodly things; and Joanna was fair to see in her hunter's
+attire, with brogues tied to her naked feet, and the
+shapeliness of her legs bare to the knee beneath the
+trussing up of her green skirts.
+
+They greeted Christopher kindly, and Joanna sat down by him
+to talk, but Jack of the Tofts took his son by the arm, and
+went toward the house with him in earnest speech.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+HOW CHRISTOPHER CAME TO LITTLEDALE TO ABIDE THERE A WHILE.
+
+
+In about a week's time from this, those four fellows went
+their ways southward from the Tofts, having with them four
+good nags and four sumpter beasts laden with such things as
+they needed, whereof were weapons enough, though they all,
+save Christopher, bare bows; and he and the others were girt
+with swords, and a leash of good dogs followed them.  Two
+milch kine also they drave with them.
+
+Merry they were all as they went their ways through the
+woods, but the gladness of Christopher was even past words;
+wherefore, after a little, he spake scarce at all, but sat
+in his saddle hearkening the tales and songs and jests of
+his fellows, who went close beside him, for more often they
+went a-foot than rode.  And, forsooth, as the sweet morning
+wore, it seemed to him, so great was his joy, as if all the
+fair show of the greenery, and the boles of the ancient
+oaks, and the squirrels running from bough to bough, and the
+rabbits scuttling from under the bracken, and the hind
+leaping in the wood-lawn, and the sun falling through the
+rustling leaves, and the wind on his face, and the scent of
+the forest, yea, and his fair companions and their
+loveliness & valiancy and kindness, and the words and songs
+that came from their dear mouths, all these seemed to him,
+as it were, one great show done for the behoof and pleasure
+of him, the man come from the peril of death and the
+sick-bed.
+
+They lay that night in all glee under the green boughs; and
+arose on the morrow, and went all day, and again slept in
+the greenwood, and the next morning came down into a fair
+valley, which was indeed Littledale, through which ran a
+pleasant little river; and on a grassy knoll, but a short
+way from its bank, was a long framed hall, somewhat narrow,
+and nought high, whitherward they turned them straightway,
+and were presently before the door; then Gilbert drew a key
+from out of his scrip and unlocked the door, and they
+entered, and found within a fair little hall, with shut-beds
+out from it on the further side, and kitchen, and
+store-bowers at the end; all things duly appointed with
+plenishing, and meal and wine; for it was but some three
+months since one of Jack of the Tofts' allies, Sir Launcelot
+a'Green and his wife and two bairns, had left it till their
+affair was made straight; whereas he had dwelt there a whole
+year, for he had been made an outlaw of Meadham, and was a
+dear friend of the said Jack.
+
+"Now," said David smiling, "here is now thy high house and
+thy castle, little King Christopher; how doth it like thee?"
+
+"Right well," said Christopher; "and, to say sooth, I would
+almost that it were night, or my bones do else, that I might
+lie naked in a bed."
+
+"Nay, lad," said Gilbert, "make it night now, and we will do
+all that needs must be done, while thou liest lazy, as all
+kings use to do."
+
+"Nay," said Christopher, "I will be more a king than so, for
+I will do neither this nor that; I will not work and I will
+not go to bed, but will look on, till it is time for me to
+take to the crooked stick and the grey-goose wing and seek
+venison."
+
+"That is better than well," said David; "for I can see by
+thine eyes, that are dancing with pleasure, that in three or
+four days thou wilt be about the thickets with us."
+
+"Meantime," said Joanna, "thou shalt pay for thy meat and
+drink by telling us tales when we come home weary."
+
+"Yea," said Christopher laughing, "that ye may go to sleep
+before your time."
+
+So they talked, and were joyous and blithe together, and
+between them they made the house trim, and decked it with
+boughs and blossoms; and though Christopher told them no
+tale that night, Joanna and David sang both; and in a night
+or two it was Christopher that was the minstrel.  So when
+the morrow came there began their life of the woodland; but,
+save for the changing of the year and the chances of the
+hunt, the time passed on from day to day with little change,
+and it was but seldom that any man came their way. When Yule
+was, they locked the house door behind them and went their
+ways home to the Tofts; and now of all of these wayfarers
+was Christopher by far the hardest and strongest, for his
+side had utterly forgotten Simon's knife.  At the Tofts they
+were welcomed with all triumph, and they were about there in
+the best of cheer, till it was wearing toward Candlemas, and
+then they took occasion of a bright and sunny day to go back
+to Littledale once more, and there they abode till spring
+was come and was wearing into summer, and messages had come
+and gone betwixt them and the Tofts, and it was agreed that
+with the first of autumn they should go back to the Tofts
+and see what should betide.
+
+But now leave we Christopher and these good fellows of the
+Tofts and turn to Goldilind, who is yet dwelling amid no
+very happy days in the Castle of Greenharbour, on the
+northernmost marches of Meadham.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+OF GOLDILIND IN THE MAY MORNING AT GREENHARBOUR.
+
+
+May was on the land now, and was come into its second week,
+and Goldilind awoke on a morn in the Castle of Greenharbour;
+but little did her eyes behold of the May, even when they
+were fully open; for she was lying, not in her own chamber,
+which was proper, and even somewhat stately, and from whence
+she could look on the sky and greenwood, but in a chamber
+low down amidst the footings of the wall, little lighted,
+unadorned, with nought in it for sport or pleasure; nought,
+forsooth, save the pallet bed on which she lay, a joint
+stool and water ewer.  To be short, though it were called
+the Least Guard-chamber, it was a prison, and she was there
+dreeing her penance, as Dame Elinor would call the cruelty
+of her malice, which the chaplain, Dame Elinor's led
+captain, had ordained her for some sin which the twain had
+forged between them.
+
+She lay there naked in her smock, with no raiment anigh her,
+and this was the third morning whereon she had awakened to
+the dusky bare walls, and a long while had their emptiness
+made of the hours:  but she lay quiet and musing, not
+altogether without cheer now; for indeed she was not wont to
+any longer penance than this she had but now tholed, so she
+looked for release presently:  and, moreover, there had
+grown in her mind during those three days a certain purpose;
+to wit, that she would get hold of the governor of the
+castle privily, and two or three others of the squires who
+most regarded her, and bewail her case to them, so that she
+might perchance get some relief.  Forsooth, as she called to
+mind this resolve, her heart beat and her cheek flushed, for
+well she knew that there was peril in it, and she forecast
+what might be the worst that would come thereof, while, on
+the other hand, the best that might be seemed to her like a
+glimpse of Paradise.
+
+As she lay there and turned the matter over in her mind for
+this many an hundred time, there came a key into the lock,
+and the door opened; and thereby entered a tall woman,
+dark-haired, white-skinned, somewhat young, and not
+ill-favoured:  Goldilind still lay there, till the new-comer
+said to her in a hard voice, wherein was both threatening
+and mockery:  "Rise up, our Lady! the Dame Elinor saith that
+it is enough, and that thou art to go forth.  Nay, hold a
+while; for I say unto thee that it is yet early in the day,
+and that thy chamber is not yet dight for thee, so thou must
+needs bestow thyself elsewhere till it be done."
+
+Goldilind rose up, and said smiling:  "Yea, Aloyse, but thou
+hast not brought my raiment:  and thou seest!"
+
+The maid stood looking at her a moment somewhat evilly, and
+then said:  "Well, since it is but scant six o'clock, I may
+do that; but I bid thee ask me not overmuch; for meseemeth
+Dame Elinor is not overwell pleased with thee to-day, nor
+our chaplain either."
+
+Therewith she turned and went out, locking the door behind
+her, and came back presently bearing on her arm a green gown
+and other raiment:  she laid them on the stool before the
+Lady, and said:  "Hasten, my Lady, and let me go to my
+place:  sooth to say, it may well be double trouble to thee
+to don thy clothes, for thou mayst have to doff them again
+before long."
+
+Goldilind answered nought, but reddened and paled again as
+she clad her under the waiting-maid's eyes.  Then they went
+out together, and up a short stone stair, till they were
+level with the greensward without.  Then the maid turned to
+Goldilind and said: "And now thou art clad and out, my Lady,
+I wot not where thou art to go to, since to thy chamber thou
+must not go.  Nay, hold and hearken! here we be at the door
+which opens on to the Foresters' Garth under the Foresters'
+Tower, thither shalt thou abide till I come to fetch thee.
+How now, my Lady! what else wouldst thou?"
+
+Goldilind looked on her with a smile, yet with eagereyes,
+and said:  "O good Aloyse, wouldst thou but give me a piece
+of bread? for I hunger; thou wottest my queenly board hath
+not been overloaded these last days."
+
+"Ha!" said Aloyse; "if thou ask me overmuch I fear thou
+mayst pay for it, my Lady; but this last asking thou shalt
+have, and then none other till all thy penance thou hast
+dreed. Abide!"
+
+Therewith she went up the stairs, and Goldilind, who now was
+but weak with her prison and the sudden light, and the hope
+and fear of her purpose of bewailing her story, sat her down
+on the stair there, almost, as it were, 'twixt home and
+hell, till her heart came back to her and the tears began to
+flow from her eyes.  Forthright came back Aloyse, bearing a
+white loaf and a little pitcher of milk on a silver
+serving-dish; she laid them down, unlocked the door into the
+garden, and thrust Goldilind through by the shoulders; then
+she turned and took up her serving-dish with the bread and
+milk, and handed it to Goldilind through the door, and said:
+"Now is my Lady served.  It were indeed well that my Lady
+should strengthen herself this hour for the hour next to
+come."
+
+Therewith she turned about, and shut and locked the door;
+and the King's daughter fell to eagerly on her bread, and
+thought of little till she had eaten and drunk, save that
+she felt the sweet scent of the gilliflowers and eglantine
+as it were a part of her meal.
+
+Then she went slowly down the garden, treading the
+greensward beside the flowers; and she looked on the hold,
+and the low sun gilded the walls thereof and glittered in a
+window here and there, and though there was on her a
+foreboding of the hours of that day, she did what she might
+to make the best of the fragrant May morning and the song of
+birds and rustle of leaves, though, indeed, at whiles the
+tears would gush out of her eyes when she thought how young
+she was and how feeble, and the pity of herself became sweet
+unto her.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+OF GOLDILIND IN THE GARTH.
+
+
+Now, as she went in that garden with her face turned toward
+the postern which led into the open space of the greenwood,
+which was but two bow-shots from the thicket, she heard the
+clatter of horse-hoofs on the loose stones of the path, and
+how they stopped at the said postern; and presently there
+was a key in the lock, the door opened, and a man came in
+walking stiffly, like a rider who has ridden far and fast.
+He was clad in jack and sallet, and had a sword by his side,
+and on his sleeve was done in green and gold a mountain
+aflame; so that Goldilind knew him at once for a man of Earl
+Geoffrey's; and, indeed, she had seen the man before, coming
+and going on errands that she knew nought of, and on which
+nothing followed that was of import to her.  Therefore, as
+she watched him cross the garden and go straight up to the
+door of the Foresters' Tower, and take out another key and
+enter, she heeded him but little, nor did his coming
+increase her trouble a whit.
+
+She walked on toward the postern, and now she saw that the
+errand-bearer had left it open behind him, and when she came
+close up to it, she saw his horse tied to a ring in the
+wall, a strong and good bay nag.  The sight of him, and the
+glimpse of the free and open land, stirred in her the misery
+of her days and the yearning for the loveliness of the world
+without, converse of friends, hope of the sufficiency of
+desire, and the sweetness of love returned.  And so strong a
+wave of anguish swept over her, that she bowed her down upon
+the grass and wept bitterly.  Yet but a little while it
+lasted; she rose up presently and looked warily all round
+her, and up to the Castle, and saw none stirring; she drew
+up the skirts of her green gown into her girdle, till the
+hem but just hid her knees; then she stepped lightly through
+the half-open door with flushed cheeks and glittering eyes,
+while her heart rose within her; then she lifted her hand,
+unhitched the reins from the iron ring, and quietly led the
+horse close under the garth-wall, and stole gently up the
+slope which, as all roads from the Castle, went straightway
+toward the thicket, but this was the straightest.  So she
+went, till she came to the corner of the garth-wall, and a
+little further; and the Castle on that side was blind, save
+for the swale on the battlement, whereon in that deep peace
+was little going; and, moreover, it was not even yet six
+o'clock.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+GOLDILIND GOES FREE.
+
+
+There then she stayed the horse, and, flushed and panting,
+got lightly into the saddle and bestrode it, and, leaning
+over on the beast's neck, smote his flanks with her heels;
+the horse was fresh, though his master had been weary,
+whereas the said messenger had gotten him from a forester
+some six miles away in the wood that morning, so the nag
+answered to her call for speed, and she went a great gallop
+into the wood, and was hidden in a twinkling from any eyes
+that might be looking out of the Castle.
+
+Without checking the nag she sped along, half mad with joy
+at the freedom of this happy morn.  Nigh aimless she was,
+but had an inkling that it were well with her if she could
+hold northward ever; for the old man aforesaid had told her
+of Oakenrealm, and how it lay northward of them; so that way
+she drifted as the thicket would suffer her.  When she had
+gone as much of a gallop as she might for some half hour,
+she drew rein to breathe her nag, and hearkened; she turned
+in the saddle, but heard nought to affright her, so she went
+on again, but some what more soberly; and thuswise she rode
+for some two hours, and the day waxed hot, and she was come
+to a clear pool amidst of a little clearing, covered with
+fine greensward right down to the water's edge.
+
+There she made stay, and got off her horse, and stood awhile
+by him as he cropped the sweet grass; and the birds sang at
+the edge of the thicket, and the rabbits crept and gambolled
+on the other side of the water; and from the pool's edge the
+moorhens cried. She stood half leaning against the side of
+the horse till she became somewhat drowsy; yea, and even
+dreamed a little, and that little but ill, it seemed, as she
+gave a troubled cry and shrank together and turned pale.
+Then she rubbed her eyes and smiled, and turned to the pool,
+where now a little ripple was running over the face of it,
+and a thought came upon her, and she set her hand to the
+clasp of her gown and undid it, and drew the gown off her
+shoulders, and so did off all her raiment, and stood naked a
+little on the warm sunny grass, and then bestirred her and
+went lightly into the pool, and bathed and sported there,
+and then came on to the grass again, and went to and fro to
+dry her in the air and sun.  Then she did on her raiment
+again, and laid her down under a thorn-bush by the
+pool-side, and there, would she, would she not, went to
+sleep soundly and dreamed not.  And when she awoke she
+deemed her sleep had been long, but it was not so, but
+scarce a score of minutes.  Anyhow, she sprang up now and
+went to her horse, and drew the girths tight (which she had
+loosed erewhile,) and so bestrode the good horse, and shook
+the reins, and rode away much comforted and enheartened.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+OF GOLDILIND IN THE WILD-WOOD.
+
+
+Goldilind rode on, hastening yet to put as many miles as she
+might betwixt her and Greenharbour.  Within a three hours
+from her bathing she fell a-hungering sore, and knew not
+what to do to eat, till she found a pouch made fast to the
+saddle-bow, and therein a little white loaf, that and no
+more, which she took and ate the half of with great joy,
+sitting down by a brook-side, whence she had her drink.
+
+Then again she mounted, and rode on till dusk overtook her
+just as she came to a little river running from the north
+from pool to shallow, and shallow to pool.  And whereas she
+was now exceeding weary, and the good horse also much spent,
+and that the grass was very sweet and soft down to the
+water's edge, and that there was a thick thorn-bush to cover
+her, she made up her mind that this place should be her
+bed-chamber.  So she took saddle and bridle off the horse,
+as he must needs bite the grass, and then when she had eaten
+the other half of her bread, she laid her down on the green
+grass, with her head on the saddle, and when she had lain
+listening to the horse cropping the grass close anigh her
+for a minute or two, she fell fast asleep, and lay there
+long and had no dreams.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+WHAT GOLDILIND FOUND IN THE WOOD.
+
+
+When she awoke it was broad day and bright sun, and she rose
+up to her feet and looked about, and saw the horse standing
+close by, and sharing the shade with her, whisking his tail
+about lazily.  Then she turned, and saw the stream rippling
+out from the pool over the clean gravel, and here and there
+a fish darting through the ripple, or making clean rings on
+the pool as he quietly took a fly; the sky was blue and
+clear, there was scarce a breath of air, and the morning was
+already hot; no worse than yesterday sang the birds in the
+bushes; but as she looked across the river, where, forsooth,
+the alders grew thick about the pool's edge, a cock
+blackbird, and then another, flew out from the close boughs,
+where they had been singing to their mates, with the sharp
+cry that they use when they are frighted.  Withal she saw
+the bush move, though, as aforesaid, the morning was without
+wind.  She had just stooped to do off her foot-gear (for she
+was minded to bathe again), but now she stopped with one
+shoe in her hand, and looked on the bushes keenly with
+beating heart, and again she thought she saw the boughs
+shaken, and stood, not daring to move a while; but they
+moved no more now when she had looked steadily at them a
+space, and again a blackbird began singing loud just where
+they had been shaken.  So she gathered heart again, and
+presently turned her hand once more to stripping her raiment
+off her, for she would not be baulked of her bath; but when
+the stripping was done, she loitered not naked on the bank
+as she had done the day before, but walked swiftly into the
+shallow, and thence down into the pool, till nothing but her
+head and the whiteness of her shoulders showed over the dark
+water.  Even then she turned her head about twice to look
+into the over-side bushes, but when she saw nothing stir
+there she began to play in the water, but not for long, but
+came splashing through the shallow and hurried on her
+raiment.
+
+When she was clad again she went up to the horse, and patted
+and caressed him, and did bridle and saddle on him, and was
+going to climb upon him, when, of a sudden, she thought she
+would lead him across, lest there should be a hole near the
+other bank and he might stumble into it unwarily; so she
+bared her feet once more and trussed up her gown skirts, and
+so took the ford, leading the beast; the water was nowhere
+up to mid-leg of her, and she stepped ashore on to short
+and fine grass, which spread like a meadow before her, with
+a big thorn or two scattered about it, and a little grassy
+hill beset with tall elms toward the top, coming down into
+the flat of the meadow and drawing round it nearly up to the
+river on the north side.
+
+But now she stood staring in wonder and some deal of fear;
+for there were three milch kine feeding on the meadow, and,
+moreover, under a thorn, scarce a hundred yards from where
+she stood, was a tall man standing gazing on her.  So
+stricken was she that she might neither cry out nor turn
+aside; neither did she think to pull her gown out of her
+girdle to cover the nakedness of her legs.
+
+When they had thus stood a little while the man began to
+move toward her very slowly, nor did she dare to flee any
+the more.  But when he was within half a dozen paces her
+face flushed red, and she did pull her gown out of its
+trusses and let it flow down.  But he spake to her in a
+pleasant voice, and said:  "May I speak to thee, maiden?"
+
+Fear was yet in her soul, so that she might not speak for a
+little, and then she said:  "O, I beseech thee, bring me not
+back to Greenharbour!" And she paled sorely as she spake the
+word.
+
+But he said:  "I wot not of Greenharbour, how to find the
+way thereto, though we have heard of it.  But comfort
+thyself, I pray thee, there is nought to fear in me."
+
+The sound of his voice was full pleasant to her, and when
+she hearkened him, how kind and frank it was, then she knew
+how much of terror was blent with her joy in her newly-won
+freedom and the delight of the kind and happy words.  Yet
+still she spoke not, and was both shamefast and still not
+altogether unafraid.  Yet, sooth to say, though his attire
+was but simple, he was nought wild or fierce to look on.
+From time to time she looked on him, and then dropped her
+eyes again.  In those glances she saw that he was grey-
+eyed, and smooth-cheeked, and round-chinned, and his hair
+curly and golden; and she must needs think that she had
+never seen any face half so fair.  He was clad but in a
+green coat that came not down to his knees, and brogues were
+tied to his feet, and no more raiment he had; and for hat he
+had made him a garland of white may blossom, and well it sat
+there:  and again she looked on him, and thought him no
+worse than the running angel that goes before the throne of
+God in the picture of the choir of Meadhamstead; and she
+looked on him and marvelled.
+
+Now she hung her head before him and wished he would speak,
+and even so did he, and said:  "Maiden, when I first saw
+thee from amidst of the bush by the river yonder, I deemed
+thou wert a wood-wight, or some one of the she-Gods of the
+Gentiles come back hither.  For this is a lonely place, and
+some might deem that the Devil hath might here more than in
+other places; and when I saw thee, that thou wouldst do off
+thy raiment to bathe thee, though soothly I longed to lie
+hidden there, I feared thee, lest thou shouldst be angry
+with me if I were to see thee unclad; so I came away; yet I
+went not far, for I was above all things yearning to see
+thee; and sooth it is, that hadst thou not crossed the
+water, I should presently have crossed it myself to seek
+thee, wert thou Goddess, or wood-wife, or whatever might
+have come of it.  But now thou art come to us, and I have
+heard thy voice beseeching me not to bring thee to
+Greenharbour, I see that thou art a woman of the kindred of
+Adam.  And yet so it is, that even now I fear thee somewhat.
+Yet I will pray thee not to be wroth if I ask thee whether I
+may do aught for thy need."
+
+Now she began somewhat to smile, and she looked him full in
+the face, and said: "Forsooth, my need is simple, for I am
+hungry."
+
+He smote himself on the breast, and said:  "See now, what a
+great fool I am, not to have known it without telling,
+instead of making long-winded talk about myself.  Come
+quickly, dear maiden, and leave thine horse to crop the
+grass."
+
+So he hurried on to the thorn-bush aforesaid, and she went
+foot to foot with him, but he touched her not; and
+straightway she sat her down on the root of the thorn, and
+smiled frankly on him, and said:
+
+"Nay, sir, and now thou hast made me go all this way I am
+out of breath and weary, so I pray thee of the victual at
+once."
+
+But he had been busy with his scrip which he had left cast
+down there, and therewithal reached out to her a mighty
+hunch of bread and a piece of white cheese, and said:
+
+"Now shall I fetch thee milk."  Wherewith he took up a bowl
+of aspen tree that had lain by the scrip, and ran off to one
+of the kine and milked the bowl full, and came back with it
+heedfully, and set it down beside her and said:  "This was
+the nighest thing to hand, but when thou hast eaten and
+rested then shall we go to our house, if thou wilt be so
+kind to me; for there have we better meat and wine to boot."
+
+She looked up at him smiling, but her pleasure of the meat
+and the kindness was so exceeding, that she might not
+refrain from tears also, but she spake not.
+
+As for him, he knelt beside her, looking on her wistfully;
+and at last he said:  "I shall tell thee, that I am glad
+that thou wert hungry and that I have seen thee eating, else
+might I have deemed thee somewhat other than a woman of
+mankind even yet."
+
+She said:  "Yea, and why wouldst thou not believe my word
+thereto?"
+
+He said, reddening:  "I almost fear to tell thee, lest thou
+think me overbold and be angry with me."
+
+"Nay," she said, "tell me, for I would know."
+
+Said he:  "The words are not easy in my rude mouth; but this
+is what I mean:  that though I be young I have seen fair
+women not a few, but beside any of them thou art a
+wonder;....and loth I were if thou wert not really of
+mankind, if it were but for the glory of the world."
+
+She hung her head and answered nought a while, and he also
+seemed ashamed:  but presently she spake:  "Thou hast been
+kind to us, wouldst thou tell us thy name? and then, if it
+like thee, what thou art?"
+
+"Lady," he said, "my name is easy to tell, I hight
+Christopher; and whiles folk in merry mockery call me
+Christopher King; meseems because I am of the least account
+of all carles.  As for what else I am, a woodman I am, an
+outlaw, and the friend of them:  yet I tell thee I have
+never by my will done any harm to any child of man; and
+those friends of mine, who are outlaws also, are kind and
+loving with me, both man and woman, though needs must they
+dwell aloof from kings' courts and barons' halls."
+
+She looked at him wondering, and as if she did not
+altogether understand him; and she said:  "Where dost thou
+dwell?"
+
+He said:  "To-day I dwell hard by; though where I shall
+dwell to-morrow, who knows? And with me are dwelling three
+of my kind fellows; and the dearest is a young man of mine
+own age, who is my fellow in all matters, for us to live and
+die each for the other. Couldst thou have seen him, thou
+wouldst love him I deem."
+
+"What name hath he?" said Goldilind.
+
+"He hight David," said Christopher.
+
+But therewith he fell silent and knit his brow, as though he
+were thinking of some knotty point:  but in a while his face
+cleared, and he said:  "If I durst, I would ask thee thy
+name, and what thou art?"
+
+"As to my name," said she, "I will not tell it thee as now.
+As to what I am, I am a poor prisoner; and much have I been
+grieved and tormented, so that my body hath been but a thing
+whereby I might suffer anguish.  Something else am I, but I
+may not tell thee what as yet."
+
+He looked on her long, and then arose and went his way along
+the very track of their footsteps, and he took the horse and
+brought him back to the thorn, and stood by the lady and
+reddened, and said:  "I must tell thee what I have been
+doing these last minutes."
+
+"Yea," said she, looking at him wonderingly, "hast thou not
+been fetching my horse to me?"
+
+"So it is," said he; "but something else also.  Ask me, or I
+cannot tell thee."
+
+She laughed, and said:  "What else, fair sir?"
+
+Said he:  "Ask me what, or I cannot tell thee."
+
+"Well, what, then?" said she.
+
+He answered, stammering and blushing:  "I have been looking
+at thy foot prints, whereby thou camest up from the water,
+to see what new and fairer blossoms have come up in the
+meadow where thy feet were set e'en now."
+
+She answered him nothing, and he held his peace.  But in a
+while she said:  "If thou wouldst have us come to thine
+house, thou shalt lead us thither now."  And therewith she
+took her foot-gear from out of her girdle, as if she would
+do it on, and he turned his face away, but sighed therewith.
+Then she reddened and put them back again, and rose up
+lightly, and said:  "I will go afoot; and wilt thou lead the
+horse for me?"
+
+So did he, and led her by all the softest and most flowery
+ways, turning about the end of a spur of the little hill
+that came close to the water, and going close to the lip of
+the river.  And when they had thus turned about the hill
+there was a somewhat wider vale before them, grassy and
+fair, and on a knoll, not far from the water, a long
+frame-house thatched with reed.
+
+Then said Christopher:  "Lady, this is now Littledale, and
+yonder the house thereof."
+
+She said quietly:  "Lovely is the dale, and fair the house
+by seeming, and I would that they may be happy that dwell
+therein!"
+
+Said Christopher:  "Wilt thou not speak that blessing within
+the house as without?"
+
+"Fain were I thereof," she said.  And therewith they came
+into the garth, wherein the apple trees were blossoming, and
+Goldilind spread abroad her hands and lifted up her head for
+joy of the sight and the scent, and they stayed awhile
+before they went on to the door, which was half open, for
+they feared none in that place, and looked for none whom
+they might not deal with if he came as a foe.
+
+Christopher would have taken a hand of her to lead her in,
+but both hands were in her gown to lift up the hem as she
+passed over the threshold; so he durst not.
+
+Fair and bright now was the hall within, with its long and
+low windows goodly glazed, a green halling on the walls of
+Adam and Eve and the garden, and the good God walking
+therein; the sun shone bright through the southern windows,
+and about the porch it was hot, but further toward the dais
+cool and pleasant.
+
+So Goldilind sat down in the coolest of the place at the
+standing table; but Christopher bestirred himself, and
+brought wine and white bread, and venison and honey, and
+said: "I pray thee to dine, maiden, for it is now hard on
+noon; and as for my fair fellows, I look not for them before
+sunset for they were going far into the wood."
+
+She smiled on him, and ate and drank a little deal, and he
+with her.  Sooth to say, her heart was full, and though she
+had forgotten her fear, she was troubled, because, for as
+glad as she was, she could not be as glad as her gladness
+would have her, for the sake of some lack, she knew not
+what.
+
+Now spake Christopher:  "I would tell thee something
+strange, to wit, though it is little more than three hours
+since I first saw thee beside the river, yet I seem to know
+thee as if thou wert a part of my life."
+
+She looked on him shyly, and he went on:  "This also is
+strange, and, withal, it likes me not, that when I speak of
+my fair fellows here, David, and Gilbert, and Joanna, they
+are half forgotten to my heart, though their names are on my
+tongue; and this house, doth it like thee, fair guest?"
+
+"Yea, much," she said; "it seems joyous to me:  and I shall
+tell thee that I have mostly dwelt in unmerry houses, though
+they were of greater cost than this."
+
+Said Christopher:  "To me it hath been merry and happy
+enough; but now it seems to me as if it had all been made
+for thee and this meeting."
+
+"Is it therefore no longer merry to thee because of that?"
+she said, smiling, yet flushing much red therewith.  Now it
+was his turn not to answer her, and she cast down her eyes
+before him, and there was silence between them.
+
+Then she looked at him steadily, and said:  "It is indeed
+grievous that thou shouldest forget thine old friends for
+me, and that it should have come into thy mind that this
+fair and merry house was not made for thy fair fellows and
+thy delight with them, but for me, the chance-comer.  For,
+hearken, whereas thou saidst e'en now, that I was become a
+part of thy life, how can that be? For if I become the poor
+captive again, how canst thou get to me, thou who art
+thyself a castaway, as thou hast told me? Yea, but even so,
+I shall be too low for thee to come down to me.  And if I
+become what I should be, then I must tell thee that I shall
+be too high for thee to climb up to me; so that in one way
+or other we shall be sundered, who have but met for an hour
+or two."
+
+He hung his head a while as they stood there face to face,
+for both of them had arisen from the board; but presently he
+looked up to her with glittering eyes, and said:  "Yea, for
+an hour or two; why then do we tarry and linger, and say
+what we have no will to say, and refrain from what our
+hearts bid us?"
+
+Therewith he caught hold of her right wrist, and laid his
+hand on her left shoulder, and this first time that he had
+touched her, it was as if a fire ran through all his body
+and changed it into the essence of her:  neither was there
+any naysay in her eyes, nor any defence against him in the
+yielding body of her.  But even in that nick of time he drew
+back a little, and turned his head, as a man listening,
+toward the door, and said:  "Hist! hist! Dost thou hear,
+maiden?" She turned deadly pale:  "O what is it? What is it?
+Yea, I hear; it is horses drawing nigh, and the sound of
+hounds baying.  But may it not be thy fellows coming back?"
+
+"Nay, nay," he said; "they rode not in armour.  Hark to it!
+and these hounds are deep-voiced sleuth-dogs! But come now,
+there may yet be time."
+
+He turned, and caught up axe and shield from off the wall,
+and drew her toward a window that looked to the north, and
+peered out of it warily; but turned back straightway, and
+said:  "Nay, it is too late that way, they are all round
+about the house. Maiden, get thou up into the solar by this
+stair, and thou wilt find hiding-place behind the traverse
+of the bed; and if they go away, and my fellows come in due
+time, then art thou safe.  But if not, surely they shall do
+thee no hurt; for I think, indeed, that thou art some great
+one."
+
+And he fell to striding down the hall toward the door; but
+she ran after him, and caught his arm, and said:  "Nay, nay,
+I will not hide, to be dragged out of my refuge like a
+thief: thou sayest well that I am of the great; I will stand
+by thee and command and forbid as a Queen.  O go not to the
+door! Stay by me, stay!"
+
+"Nay, nay," he said, "there is nought for it but the deed of
+arms.  Look! seest thou not steel by the porch?"
+
+And therewith he broke from her and ran to the door, and was
+met upon the very threshold by all-armed men, upon whom he
+fell without more ado, crying out:  "For the Tofts! For the
+Tofts! The woodman to the rescue!" And he hewed right and
+left on whatsoever was before him, so that what fell not,
+gave back, and for a moment of time he cleared the porch;
+but in that nick of time his axe brake on the basnet of a
+huge man-at-arms, and they all thrust them on him together
+and drave him back into the hall, and came bundling after
+him in a heap.  But he drave his shield at one, and then
+with his right hand smote another on the bare face, so that
+he rolled over and stirred no more till the day of doom.
+Then was there a weapon before him, might he have stooped to
+pick it up; but he might not; so he caught hold of a sturdy
+but somewhat short man by the collar and the lap of his
+leather surcoat, and drew aback, and with a mighty heave
+cast him on the rout of them, who for their parts had drawn
+back a little also, as if he had been a huge stone, and down
+went two before that artillery; and they set up a great roar
+of wonder and fear.  But he followed them, and this time got
+an axe in his hand, so mazed they were by his onset, and he
+hewed at them again and drave them aback to the threshold of
+the door:  but could get them no further, and they began to
+handle long spears to thrust at him.
+
+But then came forward a knight, no mickle man, but clad in
+very goodly armour, with a lion beaten in gold on his green
+surcoat; this man smote up the spears, and made the men go
+back a little, while he stood on the threshold; so
+Christopher saw that he would parley with him, and forbore
+him, and the knight spake:  "Thou youngling, art thou mad?
+What doest thou falling on my folk?"
+
+"And what do ye," said Christopher fiercely, "besetting the
+houses of folk with weapons? Now wilt thou take my life.
+But I shall yet slay one or two before I die.  Get thee
+back, lord, or thou shalt be the first."
+
+But the knight, who had no weapon in his hand, said:  "We
+come but to seek our own, and that is our Lady of Meadham,
+who dwelleth at Greenharbour by her own will.  And if thou
+wilt stand aside thou mayst go free to the devil for us."
+
+Now would Christopher have shouted and fallen on, and gone
+to his death there and then; but even therewith a voice,
+clear and sweet, spake at the back of him, and said: "Thou
+kind host, do thou stand aside and let us speak that which
+is needful."  And therewith stepped forth Goldilind and
+stood beside Christopher, and said:  "Sir Burgreve, we rode
+forth to drink the air yesterday, and went astray amidst the
+wild-wood, and were belated, so that we must needs lie down
+under the bare heaven; but this morning we happened on this
+kind forester, who gave us to eat, and took us to his house
+and gave us meat and drink; for which it were seemlier to
+reward him than threaten him.  Now it is our pleasure that
+ye lead us back to Greenharbour; but as for this youth, that
+ye do him no hurt, but let him go free, according to thy
+word spoken e'en now, Sir Burgreve."
+
+She spake slowly and heavily, as one who hath a lesson to
+say, and it was to be seen of her that all grief was in her
+heart, though her words were queenly.  Some of them that
+heard laughed; but the Burgreve spake, and said:  "Lady, we
+will do thy will in part, for we will lead thee to
+Greenharbour in all honour; but as to this young man, if he
+will not be slain here and now, needs must he with us.  For
+he hath slain two of our men outright, and hath hurt many,
+and, methinks, the devil of the woods is in his body.  So do
+thou bid him be quiet, if thou wouldst not see his blood
+flow."
+
+She turned a pale unhappy face on Christopher, and said:
+"My friend, we bid thee withstand them no more, but let them
+do with thee as they will."
+
+Christopher stood aside therewith, and sat down on a bench
+and laughed, and said in a high voice:  "Stout men-at-arms,
+forsooth, to take a maid's kirtle to their shield."
+
+But therewith the armed men poured into the hall, and a half
+dozen of the stoutest came up unto Christopher where he sat,
+and bound his hands with their girdles, and he withstood
+them no whit, but sat laughing in their faces, and made as
+if it were all a Yule-tide game.  But inwardly his heart
+burned with anger, and with love of that sweet Lady.
+
+Then they made him stand up, and led him without the house,
+and set him on a horse, and linked his feet together under
+the belly thereof.  And when that was done he saw them lead
+out the Lady, and they set her in a horse litter, and then
+the whole troop rode off together, with two men riding on
+either side of the said litter.  In this wise they left
+Littledale.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+GOLDILIND COMES BACK TO GREENHARBOUR.
+
+
+They rode speedily, and had with them men who knew the
+woodland ways, so that the journey was nought so long thence
+as Goldilind had made it thither; and they stayed not for
+nightfall, since the moon was bright, so that they came
+before the Castle-gate before midnight.  Now Goldilind
+looked to be cast into prison, whatever might befall her
+upon the morrow; but so it went not, for she was led
+straight to her own chamber, and one of her women, but not
+Aloyse, waited on her, and when she tried to have some
+tidings of her, the woman spake to her no more than if she
+were dumb.  So all unhappily she laid her down in her bed,
+foreboding the worst, which she deemed might well be death
+at the hand of her jailers.  As for Christopher, she saw the
+last of him as they entered the Castle-gate, and knew not
+what they had done with him.  So she lay in dismal thoughts,
+but at last fell asleep for mere weariness.
+
+When she awoke it was broad day, and there was someone going
+about in the chamber; she turned, and saw that it was
+Aloyse.  She felt sick at heart, and durst not move or ask
+of tidings; but presently Aloyse turned, and came to the
+bed, and made an obeisance, but spake not.  Goldilind raised
+her head, and said wearily:  "What is to be done, Aloyse,
+wilt thou tell me? For my heart fails me, and meseems,
+unless they have some mercy, I shall die to-day."
+
+"Nay," said the chambermaid, "keep thine heart up; for here
+is one at hand who would see thee, when it is thy pleasure
+to be seen."
+
+"Yea," said Goldilind, "Dame Elinor to wit."  And she
+moaned, and fear and heart-sickness lay so heavy on her
+that she went nigh to swooning
+
+But Aloyse lifted up her head, and brought her wine and made
+her drink, and when Goldilind was come to herself again the
+maid said:  "I say, keep up thine heart, for it is not Dame
+Elinor and the rods that would see thee, but a mighty man;
+nay, the most mighty, to wit, Earl Geoffrey, who is King of
+Meadham in all but the name."
+
+Goldilind did in sooth take heart at this tidings, and she
+said:  "I wonder what he may have to do here; all this while
+he hath not been to Greenharbour, or, mayhappen, it might
+have been better for me."
+
+"I wot not," said Aloyse, "but even so it is.  I shall tell
+thee, the messenger, whose horse thou didst steal, brought
+no other word in his mouth save this, that my Lord Earl was
+coming; and come he did; but that was toward sunset, long
+after they had laid the blood-hounds on thy slot, and I had
+been whipped for letting thee find the way out a-gates. Now,
+our Lady, when thou hast seen the Earl, and hast become our
+Lady and Mistress indeed, wilt thou bethink thee of the morn
+before yesterday on my behalf?"
+
+"Yea," said Goldilind, "if ever it shall befall."
+
+"Befall it shall," said Aloyse; "I dreamed of thee three
+nights ago, and thou sitting on thy throne commanding and
+forbidding the great men.  But at worst no harm hath
+happened save to my shoulders and sides, by thy stealing
+thyself, since thou hast come back in the nick of time, and
+of thine own will, as men say.  But tell me now of thine
+holiday, and if it were pleasant to thee?"
+
+Goldilind fell a-weeping at the word, bethinking her of
+yesterday morning, and Aloyse stood looking on her, but
+saying nought.  At last spake Goldilind softly:  "Tell me,
+Aloyse, didst thou hear any speaking of that young man who
+was brought in hither last night? Have they slain him?"
+
+Said Aloyse:  "Soothly, my Lady, I deem they have done him
+no hurt, though I wot not for sure.  There hath been none
+headed or hanged in the base-court to-day.  I heard talk
+amongst the men-at-arms of one whom they took; they said he
+was a wonder of sheer strength, and how that he cast their
+men about as though he were playing at ball.  Sooth to say,
+they seemed to bear him no grudge therefor.  But now I would
+counsel thee to arise; and I am bidden to tire and array
+thee at the best.  And now I would say a word in thine ear,
+to wit, that Dame Elinor feareth thee somewhat this morn."
+
+So Goldilind arose, and was arrayed like a very queen, and
+was served of what she would by Aloyse and the other women,
+and sat in her chamber awaiting the coming of the mighty
+Lord of Meadham.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+EARL GEOFFREY SPEAKS WITH GOLDILIND.
+
+
+But a little while had she sat there, before footsteps a
+many came to the door, which was thrown open, and straight
+it was as if the sun had shone on a flower-bed, for there
+was come Earl Geoffrey and his lords all arrayed most
+gloriously.  Then came the Earl up the chamber to Goldilind,
+and bent the knee before her, and said:  "Lady and Queen, is
+it thy pleasure that thy servant should kiss thine hand?"
+
+She made him little cheer, but reached out to him her lily
+hand in its gold sleeve, and said:  "Thou must do thy will."
+
+So he kissed the hand reverently, and said:  "And these my
+lords, may they enter and do obeisance and kiss hands, my
+Lady?"
+
+Said Goldilind:  "I will not strive to gainsay their will,
+or thine, my Lord."
+
+So they entered and knelt before her, and kissed her hand;
+and, to say sooth, most of them had been fain to kiss both
+hands of her, yea, and her cheeks and her lips; though but
+little cheer she made them, but looked sternly on them.
+
+Then the Earl spake to her, and told her of her realm, and
+how folk thrived, and of the deep peace that was upon the
+land, and of the merry days of Meadham, and the praise of
+the people.  And she answered him nothing, but as he spake
+her bosom began to heave, and the tears came into her eyes
+and rolled down her cheeks.  Then man looked on man, and the
+Earl said:  "My masters, I deem that my Lady hath will to
+speak to me privily, as to one who is her chiefest friend
+and well-willer.  Is it so, my Lady?"
+
+She might not speak for the tears that welled out from her
+heart; but she bowed her head and strove to smile on him.
+
+But the Earl waved his hand, and those lords, and the women
+also, voided the chamber, and left those two alone, the Earl
+standing before her.  But ere he could speak, she arose from
+her throne and fell on her knees before him, and joined
+hands palm to palm, and cried in a broken voice:  "Mercy!
+Mercy! Have pity on my young life, great Lord!"
+
+But he lifted her up, and set her on her throne again, and
+said:  "Nay, my Lady, this is unmeet; but if thou wouldst
+talk and tell with me I am ready to hearken."
+
+She strove with her passion a while, and then she said:
+"Great Lord, I pray thee to hearken, and to have patience
+with a woman's weak heart.  Prithee, sit down here beside
+me.
+
+"It were unfitting," he said; "I shall take a lowlier seat."
+Then he drew a stool to him, and sat down before her, and
+said:  "What aileth thee? What wouldest thou?"
+
+Then she said:  "Lord Earl, I am in prison; I would be
+free."
+
+Quoth he:  "Yea, and is this a prison, then?"
+
+"Yea," she said, "since I may not so much as go out from it
+and come back again unthreatened; yet have I been, and that
+unseldom, in a worser prison than this:  do thou go look on
+the Least Guard-chamber, and see if it be a meet dwelling
+for thy master's daughter."
+
+He spake nought awhile; then he said:  "And, yet if it
+grieveth thee, it marreth thee nought; for when I look on
+thee mine eyes behold the beauty of the world, and the body
+wherein is no lack."
+
+She reddened and said:  "If it be so, it is God's work, and
+I praise him therefor.  But how long will it last? For grief
+slayeth beauty."
+
+He looked on her long, and said:  "To thy friends I betook
+thee, and I looked that they should cherish thee; where then
+is the wrong that I have done thee?"
+
+She said:  "Maybe no wrong wittingly; since now, belike,
+thou art come to tell me that all this weary sojourn is at
+an end, and that thou wilt take me to Meadhamstead, and set
+me on the throne there, and show my father's daughter to all
+the people."
+
+He held his peace, and his face grew dark before her while
+she watched it.  At last he spake in a harsh voice:  "Lady,"
+he said, "it may not be; here in Greenharbour must thou
+abide, or in some other castle apart from the folk."
+
+"Yea," she said, "now I see it is true, that which I
+foreboded when first I came hither: thou wouldst slay me,
+that thou mayest sit safely in the seat of thy master's
+daughter; thou durst not send me a man with a sword to
+thrust me through, therefore thou hast cast me into prison
+amongst cruel jailers, who have been bidden by thee to take
+my life slowly and with torments.  Hitherto I have withstood
+their malice and thine; but now am I overcome, and since I
+know that I must die, I have now no fear, and this is why I
+am bold to tell thee this that I have spoken, though I wot
+now I shall be presently slain. And now I tell thee I repent
+it, that I have asked grace of a graceless face."
+
+Although she spake strong words, it was with a mild and
+steady voice.  But the Earl was sore troubled, and he rose
+up and walked to and fro of the chamber, half drawing his
+sword and thrusting it back into the scabbard from time to
+time.  At last he came back to her, and sat down before her
+and spake:
+
+"Maiden, thou art somewhat in error.  True it is that I
+would sit firm in my seat and rule the land of Meadham, as
+belike none other could.  True it is also that I would have
+thee, the rightful heir, dwell apart from the turmoil for a
+while at least; for I would not have thy white hands thrust
+me untimely from my place, or thy fair face held up as a
+banner by my foemen.  Yet nowise have I willed thy death or
+thine anguish; and if all be true as thou sayest it, and
+thou art so lovely that I know not how to doubt it, tell me
+then what these have done with thee."
+
+She said:  "Sir, those friends to whom thou hast delivered
+me are my foes, whether they were thy friends or not.  Wilt
+thou compel me to tell thee all my shame? They have treated
+me as a thrall who had whiles to play a queen's part in a
+show.  To wit, thy chaplain whom thou hast given me has
+looked on me with lustful eyes, and has bidden me buy of him
+ease and surcease of pain with my very body, and hath
+threatened me more evil else, and kept his behest."
+
+Then leapt up the Earl and cried out:  "Hah! did he so? Then
+I tell thee his monk's hood shall not be stout enough to
+save his neck.  Now, my child, thou speakest; tell me more,
+since my hair is whitening."
+
+She said:  "The sleek, smooth-spoken woman to whom thou
+gavest me, didst thou bid her to torment me with stripes,
+and the dungeon, and the dark, and solitude, and hunger?"
+
+"Nay, by Allhallows!" he said, "nor thought of it; trust me
+she shall pay therefor if so she hath done."
+
+She said:  "I crave no vengeance, but mercy I crave, and
+thou mayst give it me."
+
+Then were they both silent, till he said:  "Now I, for my
+part, will pray thee bear what thou must bear, which shall
+be nought save this, that thy queenship lie quiet for a
+while; nought else of evil shall betide thee henceforth; but
+as much of pleasure and joy as may go with it.  But tell me,
+there is a story of thy snatching a holiday these two days,
+and of a young man whom thou didst happen on.  Tell me now,
+not as a maiden to her father or warder, but as a great lady
+might tell a great lord, what betid betwixt you two:  for
+thou art not one on whom a young and doughty man may look
+unmoved.  By Allhallows! but thou art a firebrand, my Lady!"
+And he laughed therewith.
+
+Goldilind flushed red exceeding; but she answered steadily:
+"Lord Earl, this is the very sooth, that I might not fail to
+see it, how he thought me worth looking on, but he treated
+me with all honour, as a brother might a sister."
+
+"Tell me," said the Earl, "what like was this man?"
+
+Said she:  "He was young, but strong beyond measure; and
+full doughty:  true it is that I saw him with mine eyes take
+and heave up one of our men in his hands and cast him away
+as a man would a clod of earth."
+
+The Earl knit his brow:  "Yea," said he, "and that story I
+have heard from the men-at-arms also.  But what was the man
+like of aspect?"
+
+She reddened:  "He was of a most goodly body," she said,
+"fair-eyed, and of a face well carven; his speech kind and
+gentle."  And yet more she reddened.
+
+Said the Earl:  "Didst thou hear what he was, this man?"
+
+She said:  "I deem from his own words that he was but a
+simple forester."
+
+"Yea," quoth the Earl, "a simple forester? Nay, but a
+woodman, an outlaw, a waylayer; so say our men, that he fell
+on them with the cry:  A-Tofts! A-Tofts! Hast thou never
+heard of Jack of the Tofts?"
+
+"Nay, never," said she.
+
+Said the Earl:  "He is the king of these good fellows; and a
+perilous host they be.  Now I fear me, if he be proven to be
+one of these, there will be a gallows reared for him to-
+morrow, for as fair and as doughty as he may be."
+
+She turned all pale, and her lips quivered:  then she rose
+up, and fell on her knees before the Earl, and cried out:
+"O sir, a grace, a grace, I pray thee! Pardon this poor man
+who was so kind to me!"
+
+The Earl raised her up and smiled, and said:  "Nay, my Lady
+Queen, wouldst thou kneel to me? It is unmeet.  And as for
+this woodman, it is for thee to pardon him, and not for me;
+and since, by good luck, he is not hanged yet, thy word hath
+saved his neck."  She sat down in her chair again, but still
+looked white and scared.  But the Earl spake again, and
+kindly:
+
+"Now to all these matters I shall give heed, my Lady;
+wherefore I will ask leave of thee, and be gone; and
+to-morrow I will see thee again, and lay some rede before
+thee. Meantime, be of good cheer, for thou shalt be made as
+much of as may be, and live in mickle joy if thou wilt.  And
+if any so much as give thee a hard word, it shall be the
+worse for them."
+
+Therewith he arose, and made obeisance to her, and departed.
+And she abode quiet, and looking straight before her, till
+the door shut, and then she put her hands to her face and
+fell a-weeping, and scarce knew what ailed her betwixt hope,
+and rest of body, and love, though that she called not by
+its right name.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+EARL GEOFFREY SPEAKETH WITH CHRISTOPHER.
+
+
+Now it is to be said that the Earl had had much tidings told
+him of Christopher, and had no intent to put him to death,
+but rather meant to take him into the company of his guard,
+to serve him in all honour; and that which he said as to
+hanging him was but to try Goldilind; but having heard and
+seen of her such as we have told, he now thought it good to
+have a privy talk with this young man.  So he bade a squire
+lead him to where Christopher was held in ward, and went
+much pondering.
+
+So the squire brought him to the self-same Littlest
+Guardroom (in sooth a prison) where Goldilind had lain that
+other morn; and he gave the squire leave, and entered and
+shut the door behind him, so that he and Christopher were
+alone together.  The young man was lying on his back on the
+pallet, with his hands behind his head, and his knees drawn
+up, murmuring some fag-end of an old song; but when he heard
+the door shut to he sat up, and, turning to the new-comer,
+said:  "Art thou tidings? If so, then tell me quickly which
+it is to be, the gallows or freedom?"
+
+"Friend," said the Earl sternly, "dost thou know who I am?"
+
+"Nay," said Christopher; "by thine attire thou shouldst be
+some great man; but that is of little matter to me, since
+thou wilt neither bid slay me, or let me go, for a heedless
+word.
+
+Quoth the Earl:  "I am the master of the land of Meadham, so
+there is no need to tell thee that I have thy life or death
+in my hand.  Now thou wilt not deny that thou art of the
+company of Jack o' the Tofts?"
+
+"It is sooth," said Christopher.
+
+"Well," said the Earl, "thou art bold then to have come
+hither, for thou sayest it that thou art a wolf's-head and
+forfeit of thy life.  Now, again, thou didst take the Lady
+of Meadham home to thy house yesterday, and wert with her
+alone a great while.  Now according to thy dealings with her
+thou dost merit either the most evil of deaths, or else it
+may be a reward:  hah! what sayest thou?"
+
+Christopher leapt up, and said in a loud voice:  "Lord King,
+whatsoever I may be, I am not each man's dastard; when I saw
+that pearl of all women, I loved her indeed, as who should
+not, but it was even as I had loved the Mother of God had
+she come down from the altar picture at the Church of
+Middleham of the Wood.  And whoso saith otherwise, I give
+him the lie back in his teeth, and will meet him face to
+face if I may; and then, meseems, it will go hard with him."
+
+Spake the Earl, laughing:  "I will be no champion against
+thee, for I hold my skin and my bones of too much price
+thereto.  And, moreover, though meseemeth the Blessed Virgin
+would have a hot lover in thee were she to come down to
+earth anigh thy dwelling, yet trow I thy tale, that thou
+hast dealt with my Lady in honour.  Therefore, lad, what
+sayest thou, wilt thou be a man of mine, and bear arms for
+me, and do my will?"
+
+Spake Christopher:  "Lord, this is better than hanging."
+
+"Why, so it is, lad," said the Earl, laughing again, "and
+some would say better by a good deal.  But hearken! if thou
+take it, thou must abide here in Greenharbour--a long while,
+maybe; yea, even so long as my Lady dwelleth here."
+
+Christopher flushed and said:  "Lord, thou art kind and
+gracious, and I will take thy bidding."
+
+The Earl said:  "Well, so it shall be then; and presently
+thou shalt go out of this guard-room a free man.  But abide
+a while."
+
+Therewith he drew a stool to him and sat down, and spake not
+for a long while; and Christopher abode his pleasure; at
+last spake the Earl:  "One day, mayhappen, we may make a
+wedding for thee, and that no ill one."
+
+Christopher laughed:  "Lord," said he, "what lady will wed
+me, a no man's son?"
+
+Said the Earl:  "Not if the Lord of Meadham be thy friend?
+Well then, how if the Lady and Queen of Meadham make thee
+the wedding?"
+
+Said Christopher:  "I were liefer to make mine own wedding,
+whenso I need a woman in my bed:  I will compel no woman,
+nor ask others to compel her."
+
+The Earl rose up, and fell to pacing the prison to and fro;
+and at last he stood over against Christopher, and said:
+"Hearken, forester:  I will foretell thy fortune; it is that
+thou shalt become great by wedding."
+
+Christopher held his peace; and the Earl spake again:  "Now
+is the shortest word best. We deem thee both goodly and
+doughty, and would wed thee to a great lady, even that one
+to whom thou hast shown kindness in the wilderness."
+
+Said Christopher:  "It is the wont of great lords to mock
+poor folk, therefore I must not show anger against thee."
+
+"I mock thee not," said the Earl; "I mean nought, but as my
+words say."
+
+"Nay then," said Christopher, "thou biddest me an evil deed,
+great Lord.  What I said was that I would compel no woman;
+and shall I compel her who is the wonder of the world and my
+very own Lady?"
+
+"Hold thy peace, sir fool," said the Earl; "let me tell thee
+that she is as like to compel thee as thou her.  And as to
+her being thy Lady, she shall be thy Lady and wife indeed;
+but not here, for above all things will she get her away
+from Greenharbour, and thou shalt be her champion, to lead
+her about the world like a knight errant."
+
+Now was Christopher so troubled that he knew not what
+countenance to make, and scarce might he get a word out of
+his mouth a long while.  At last he said:  "Lord, I see that
+I must needs do thy will if this be no trap which thou hast
+set for me.  But overwonderful it is, that a great lady
+should be wedded to a gangrel churl."
+
+The Earl laughed:  "Many a ferly fares to the fair-eyed,"
+quoth he; "and also I will tell thee in thine ear that this
+Lady may not be so great as her name is great.  Did she
+praise her life-days to thee?"
+
+"Nay," said Christopher; "I mind me well, she called herself
+the poor captive."
+
+"She said but sooth," quoth the Earl; "and her going away
+from Greenharbour is instead of her captivity; and I tell
+thee it is by that only I may make her joyous.  And now one
+word:  thou that criest out For the Tofts in battle art not
+altogether unfriended, meseemeth."
+
+Christopher looked up proudly and fiercely:  he said:
+"Forsooth, Lord, my friends are good, though thou callest
+them wolf-heads and gallows-meat."
+
+"Champion," said the Earl, laughing, "that may well be
+sooth; and there are a many ups and downs in the world.
+Bethink thee that the time may come when thou and thy
+friends may wend to my help, and may win the names of knight
+and baron and earl: such hap hath been aforetime.  And now I
+crave of thee, when thou comest back to the Tofts, to bid
+Jack fall upon other lands than Meadham when he rideth,
+because of the gift and wedding that I give thee now.  So,
+lad, I deem that thou hast chosen thy part; but let not the
+tale thereof go out of thy mouth, or thou wilt gab away thy
+wedding.  Lo, thou, I leave this door open behind me; and
+presently shall the smith come here to do away thine irons;
+and I shall send a squire to thee to lead thee to a fair
+chamber, and to bring thee goodly raiment, and do thou play
+amongst thy fellows as one of the best of them; and show
+them, if thou wilt, some such feats in peace as yesterday
+thou showedst them in battle.  And to-morrow there will be
+new tidings."  And therewith he departed.
+
+No worse than his word he was, and anon came the smith and
+the squire; and he was brought to a chamber, and raiment of
+fine linen and silk and embroidery was brought to him:  and
+when he was new clad he looked like a king's son, whereas
+aforetime he looked like a God of the Gentiles of old.  All
+men praised his beauty and his courtesy, and after dinner
+was, and they had rested, they bade him play with them and
+show them his prowess, and he was nought loth thereto, and
+did what he might in running and leaping, and casting of the
+bar, and shooting in the bow.  And in all these things he
+was so far before everyone, that they marvelled at him, and
+said it was well indeed that he had not been slain
+yesterday.  As to wrestling, therein he might do but little;
+for all forbore him after the first man had stood before
+him, a squire, well learned in war, and long and tough, and
+deemed a very stark man; him Christopher threw over his
+shoulder as though he had been a child of twelve years.  So
+wore the day at Greenharbour in merrier wise for all good
+folk than for many a day had been the wont there.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+OF THE WEDDING OF CHRISTOPHER AND GOLDILIND.
+
+
+Early on the morrow came the Earl unto Goldilind, and she
+received him gladly, as one who had fashioned life anew for
+her.  And when he had sat down by her, he spake and said:
+"Lady, thou cravedst of me yesterday two things; the first
+was freedom from the captivity of Greenharbour; and the
+second, life and liberty for the varlet that cherished thee
+in the wild-wood the other day.  Now thy first asking
+grieved me, for that thou hast been tyrannously done by; and
+thy second I wondered at; but since I have seen the young
+man, I wonder the less; for he is both so goodly, and so
+mighty of body, and of speech bold and free, yet gentle and
+of all courtesy, that he is meet to be knight or earl, yea,
+or very king.  Now, therefore, in both these matters I will
+well to do thy pleasure, and in one way it may be; and thou
+mayst then go forth from Greenharbour as free as a bird, and
+thy varlet's life may be given unto him, and mickle honour
+therewith.  Art thou, then, willing to do after my rede and
+my commandment, so that both these good things may betide
+thee?"
+
+"Right willing am I," she said, "to be free and happy and to
+save the life of a fair youth and kind."
+
+"Then," said he, "there is one thing for thee to do:  that
+this day thou wed this fair and kind youth, and let him lead
+thee forth from Greenharbour; and, belike, he will bring
+thee to no ill stead; for his friends are mightier than
+mayhappen thou deemest."
+
+She turned as red as blood at his word; she knit her brows,
+and her eyes flashed as she answered:  "Is it seemly for a
+King's daughter to wed a nameless churl? And now I know
+thee, Lord Earl, what thou wouldst do; thou wouldst be King
+of Meadham and put thy master's daughter to the road."  And
+she was exceeding wroth.
+
+But he said, smiling somewhat:  "Was it then seemly for the
+King's daughter to kneel for this man's life, and go near to
+swooning for joy when it was granted to her?"
+
+"Yea," she said, "for I love him with all my body and soul;
+and I would have had him love me par amours, and then should
+I have been his mistress and he my servant; but now shall he
+be my master and I his servant."  And still was she very
+wroth.
+
+Quoth the Earl:  "As to the matter of my being King of
+Meadham, that will I be, whatever befall, or die in the
+place else.  So if thou wilt not do my rede, then must the
+varlet whom thou lovest die, and at Greenharbour must thou
+abide with Dame Elinor. There is no help for it."
+
+She shrieked out at that word of his, and well nigh swooned,
+lying back in her chair: but presently fell a-weeping
+sorely.  But the Earl said:  "Hearken, my Lady, I am not
+without warrant to do this.  Tell me, hast thou ever seen
+any fairer or doughtier than this youngling?"
+
+"Never," said she.
+
+"So say we all," he said.  "Now I shall tell thee (and I can
+bring witness to it) that in his last hour the King, thy
+father, when he gave thee into my keeping, spake also this:
+that I should wed thee to none save the fairest and
+doughtiest man that might be found:  even so would I do now.
+What then sayest thou?"
+
+She answered not, but still wept somewhat; then said the
+Earl:  "Lady, give me leave, and I shall send thy women to
+thee, and sit in the great hall for an hour, and if within
+that while thou send a woman of thine to say one word, Yes,
+unto me, then is all well. But if not, then do I depart from
+Greenharbour straightway, and take the youngling with me to
+hang him up on the first tree.  Be wise, I pray thee."
+
+And therewith he went his ways.  But Goldilind, being left
+alone a little, rose up and paced the chamber to and fro,
+and her tears and sobbing ceased; and a great and strange
+joy grew up in her heart, mingled with the pain of longing,
+so that she might rest in nowise.  Even therewith the door
+opened, and her women entered, Aloyse first, and she called
+to her at once, and bade her to find Earl Geoffrey in the
+great hall, and say to him:  Yes.  So Aloyse went her ways,
+and Goldilind bade her other women to array her in the best
+and goodliest wise that they might.  And the day was yet
+somewhat young. Now it must besaid of Earl Geoffrey that, in
+spite of his hard word, he had it not in his heart either to
+slay Christopher or to leave Goldilind at Greenharbour to
+the mercy of Dame Elinor.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+OF THE WEDDING OF THOSE TWAIN.
+
+
+Now were folk gathered in the hall, and the Earl Geoffrey
+was standing on the dais by the high-seat, and beside him a
+worthy clerk, the Abbot of Meadhamstead, a monk of St.
+Benedict, and next to him the Burgreve of Greenharbour, and
+then a score of knights all in brave raiment, and squires
+withal, and sergeants; but down in the hall were the men-
+at-arms and serving-men, and a half hundred of folk of the
+countryside, queans as well as carles, who had been gathered
+for the show and bidden in.  No other women were there in
+the hall till Goldilind and her serving-women entered.  She
+went straight up the hall, and took her place in the
+high-seat; and for all that her eyes seemed steady, she had
+noted Christopher standing by the shot-window just below the
+dais.
+
+Now when she was set down, and there was silence in the
+hall, Earl Geoffrey came forth and said:  "Lords and
+knights, and ye good people, the Lady Goldilind, daughter of
+the Lord King Roland that last was, is now of age to wed;
+and be it known unto you, that the King, her father, bade
+me, in the last words by him spoken, to wed her to none but
+the loveliest and strongest that might be, as witness I can
+bring hereto.  Now such a man have I sought hereto in
+Meadhamstead and the much-peopled land of Meadham, and none
+have I come on, however worthy he were of deeds, or
+well-born of lineage, but that I doubted me if he were so
+fair or so doughty as might be found; but here in this half-
+desert corner of the land have I gotten a man than whom none
+is doughtier, as some of you have found to your cost.  And
+tell me all you, where have ye seen any as fair as this
+man?" And therewith he made a sign with his hand, and forth
+strode Christopher up on to the dais; and he was so clad,
+that his kirtle was of white samite, girt with a girdle of
+goldsmith's work, whereby hung a good sword of like fashion,
+and over his shoulders was a mantle of red cloth-of-gold,
+furred with ermine, and lined with green sendall; and on his
+golden curled locks sat a chaplet of pearls.
+
+Then to the lords and all the people he seemed so fair and
+fearless and kind that they gave a great shout of welcome;
+and Goldilind came forth from her chair, as fair as a June
+lily, and came to Christopher and reached out her hand to
+him, but he refrained him a moment, so that all they could
+see how sweet and lovely a hand it was, and then he took it,
+and drew her to him, and kissed her mouth before them all;
+and still he held her hand, till the Abbot of Meadhamstead
+aforetold came and stood by them and blessed them.
+
+Then spake the Earl again:  "Lo ye, here hath been due
+betrothal of these twain, and ye may see how meet they be
+for each other in goodliness and kindness.  Now there
+lacketh nought but they should be wedded straightway; and
+all is arrayed in the chapel; wherefore if this holy man
+will come with us and do on his mass-hackle, our joy shall
+be fulfilled; save that thereafter shall feast and merriment
+await all you in this hall, and we shall be there to welcome
+all comers in this house of Greenharbour, whereas this our
+gracious Lady has long abided so happily."
+
+Man looked on man here and there, and smiled a little as he
+spake, but none said aught, for there were none save the
+Earl's servants there, and a sort of poor wretches.
+
+So therewithal they went their ways to the chapel where was
+the wedding done as grandly as might be, considering they
+were in no grander place than Greenharbour. And when all was
+done, and folk began to flow away from the chapel, and
+Goldilind sat shamefaced but strangely happy in a great
+stall of the choir, the Earl called Christopher unto him,
+and said:  "My lad, I deem that some great fortune shall
+betide thee since already thou hast begun so luckily.  But I
+beseech thee mar not thy fortune by coming back with thy
+fair wife to the land of Meadham; or else it may be thou
+shalt cast thy life away, and that will bring her sorrow, as
+I can see well."
+
+He spake this grimly, though he smiled as he spake.  But he
+went on more gently:  "I will not send you twain away
+empty-handed; when ye go out a-gates into the wide world, ye
+shall find two fair horses for your riding, well bedight,
+and one with a woman's saddle; and, moreover, a sumpter
+beast, not very lightly burdened, for on one side of him he
+beareth achest wherein is, first of all, the raiment of my
+Lady, and beneath it some deal of silver and gold and gems;
+but on the other side is victual and drink for the way for
+you, and raiment for thee, youngling.  How sayest thou, is
+it well?"
+
+"It is well, Lord," said Christopher; "yet would I have with
+me the raiment wherewith I came hither, and my bow and my
+sax."
+
+"Yea and wherefore, carle?" said Earl Geoffrey.
+
+Said the youngling:  "We be going to ride the wild-wood, and
+it might be better for safety's sake that I be so clad as
+certain folk look to see men ride there."
+
+But he reddened as he spake; and the Earl said:  "By
+Allhallows! but it is not ill thought of; and, belike, the
+same-like kind of attire might be better to hide the
+queenship of the Lady from the wood-folk than that which now
+she weareth?"
+
+"True is that, Lord," quoth Christopher.
+
+"Yet," said the Earl, "l will have you go forth from the
+Castle clad in your lordly weed, lest folk of mine say that
+I have stripped my Lady and cast her forth:  don ye your
+poor raiment when in the wood ye be."
+
+Therewith he called to a squire, and bade him seek out that
+poor raiment of the new-wedded youngling, and bow withal
+and shafts good store, and do all on the sumpter; and,
+furthermore, he bade him tell one of my Lady's women to set
+on the sumpter some of Goldilind's old and used raiment.  So
+the squire did the Earl's will, and both got Christopher's
+gear and also found Aloyse and gave her the Earl's word.
+
+She smiled thereat, and went straightway and fetched the
+very same raiment, green gown and all, which she had brought
+to Goldilind in prison that other day, and in which
+Goldilind had fled from Greenharbour.  And when she had done
+them in the chest above all the other gear, she stood yet
+beside the horses amidst of the varlets and squires who were
+gathered there to see the new-wedded folk depart.
+
+Presently then came forth through the gate those two, hand
+in hand, and Earl Geoffrey with them.  And he set Goldilind
+on her horse himself, and knelt before her to say farewell,
+and therewith was Christopher on his horse, and him the Earl
+saluted debonairly.
+
+But just as they were about shaking their reins to depart,
+Aloyse fell down on her knees before the Earl, who said:
+"What is toward, woman?"
+
+"A grace, my Lord, a grace," said she.
+
+"Stand up on thy feet," said the Earl, "and ye, my masters,
+draw out of earshot."
+
+Even so did they; and the Earl bade her speak, and she said:
+"Lord, my Lady is going away from Greenharbour, and anon
+thou wilt be going, and I shall be left with the sleek
+she-devil yonder that thou hast set over us, and here there
+will be hell for me without escape, now that my Lady is
+gone.  Wherefore I pray thee take me with thee to
+Meadhamstead, even if it be to prison; for here I shall die
+the worst of deaths."
+
+Earl Geoffrey smiled on her sourly, and said:  "If it be as
+I understand, that thou hast lifted thine hand against my
+Lady, wert thou wending with me, thou shouldst go just so
+far as the first tree.  Thou mayst deem thyself lucky if I
+leave thee behind here.  Nor needest thou trouble thee
+concerning Dame Elinor; little more shalt thou hear of her
+henceforward."
+
+But Goldilind spake and said:  "My Lord Earl, I would ask
+grace for this one; for what she did to me she did
+compelled, and not of her free will, and I forgive it her.
+And moreover, this last time she suffered in her body for
+the helping of me; so if thou mightest do her asking I were
+the better pleased."
+
+"It shall be as thou wilt, my Lady," said the Earl, "and I
+will have her with me and keep her quiet in Meadhamstead;
+but, by Allhallows! had it not been for thy word we would
+have had her whipped into the wild-wood, and hanged up on to
+a tree thereafter."
+
+Then Aloyse knelt before Goldilind and kissed her feet, and
+wept, and drew back pale and trembling.  But Goldilind shook
+her rein once for all now, and her apple-grey horse went
+forth with her; Christopher came after, leading the sumpter
+beast, and forth they went, and passed over the open green
+about the Castle, and came on to the woodland way whereby
+Goldilind had fled that other time.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+OF THE WOODLAND BRIDE-CHAMBER.
+
+
+They rode in silence a good way, and it was some three hours
+after noon, and the day as fair and bright as might be.
+Christopher held his peace for sweet shame that he was alone
+with a most fair maid, and she his own, and without defence
+against him.  But she amidst of her silence turned, now red,
+and now somewhat pale, and now and again she looked somewhat
+askance on him, and he deemed her looks were no kinder than
+they should be.
+
+At last she spake, yet not looking on him, and said:  "So,
+Forester, now is done what I must needs do:  thy life is
+saved, and I am quit of Greenharbour, and its prison, and
+its torments:  whither away then?"
+
+Quoth he, all dismayed, for her voice was the voice of
+anger:  "I wot not whither, save to the house thou hast
+blessed already with thy dear body."
+
+At that word she turned quite pale, and trembled, and spake
+not for a while, and smote her horse and hastened on the
+way, and he after her; but when he was come up with her
+again, then she said, still not looking at him:  "A house of
+woodmen and wolf-heads.  Is that a meet dwelling-place for
+me? Didst thou hear men at Greenharbour say that I am a
+Queen?"
+
+"Hear them I did," quoth he; "but meseemeth nought like a
+Queen had they done with thee."
+
+She said:  "And dost thou mock me with that? thou?" And she
+burst out weeping.  He answered not, for sore grief smote
+him, remembering her hand in his but a little while ago.
+And again she hurried on, and he followed her.
+
+When he came up with her she said:  "And thou, didst thou
+woo me as a Queen?"
+
+"Lady," he said, "I wooed thee not at all; I was given to
+thee, would I, would I not:  great joy was that to me."
+
+Then said she:  "Thou sayest sooth, thou hast not wooed me,
+but taken me."  She laughed therewith, as one in bitterness.
+But presently she turned to him, and he wondered, for in her
+face was longing and kindness nought like to her words.  But
+he durst not speak to her lest he should anger her, and she
+turned her face from him again: and she said:  "Wert thou
+given to me? meseems I was given to thee, would I, would I
+not; the Queen to the Churl, the Wood-man, the Wolf-head."
+And again she rode on, and he followed, sick at heart and
+wondering sorely.
+
+When they were riding together again, they spake not to each
+other, though she stole glances at him to see how he fared;
+but he rode on with knit brows and a stern countenance.  So
+in a while she began to speak to him again, but as if there
+were nought but courtesy between them, and neither love nor
+hatred.  She fell to asking him of woodland matters,
+concerning bird and beast and things creeping; and at first
+he would scarce answer her at all, and then were his answers
+short; but at last, despite of all, he began to forget both
+grief and anger, so much the sweetness of her speech wound
+about his heart; and, withal, she fell to asking him of his
+fellows and their life in the woods, and of Jack of the
+Tofts and the like; and now he answered her questions fully,
+and whiles she laughed at his words, and he laughed also;
+and all pleasure had there been of this converse, if he had
+not beheld her from time to time and longed for the fairness
+of her body, and feared her wrath at his longing.
+
+So wore the day, and the sun was getting low, and they were
+come to another woodland pool which was fed by a
+clear-running little brook, and up from it went a low bank
+of greensward exceeding sweet, and beyond that oak trees
+wide-branched and great, and still fair greensward beneath
+them and hazel-thicket beyond them.  There, then, Goldilind
+reined up, and looked about her, but Christopher looked on
+her and nought else.  But she said:  "Let to-morrow bring
+counsel; but now am I weary to-night, and if we are not to
+ride night-long, we shall belike find no better place to
+rest in.  Wilt thou keep watch while I sleep?"
+
+"Yea," he said, bowing his head to her soberly; and
+therewith he got off his horse, and would have helped her
+down from hers, but she slipped lightly down and stood
+before him face to face, and they were very nigh to each
+other, she standing close to her horse. Her face was pale to
+his deeming and there was a piteous look in her eyes, so
+that he yearned towards her in his bowels, and reached his
+hand toward her; but she shrank aback, leaning against her
+horse, and said in a trembling voice, looking full at him,
+and growing yet paler:  "Forester, dost thou think it seemly
+that thou shouldst ride with us, thou such as thou hast told
+thyself to be, in this lordly raiment, which they gave thee
+yonder as part of the price for thy leading us away into the
+wild-wood?"
+
+"Lady," said he, "whether it be seemly or not, I see that it
+is thy will that I should go clad as a woodland churl; abide
+a little, and thy will shall be done."
+
+Therewith he did off the burden from the sumpter horse, and
+set the chests on the earth; then he took her horse gently,
+and led him with the other two in under the oak trees, and
+there he tethered them so that they could bite the grass;
+and came back thereafter, and took his old raiment out of
+the chest, and said:  "What thou wilt have me do, I will do
+now; and this all the more as to-morrow I should have done
+it unbidden, and should have prayed thee to do on garments
+less glorious than now thou bearest; so that we may look the
+less strange in the woodland if we chance to fall in with
+any man.
+
+Nought she answered as he turned toward the hazel copse; she
+had been following him with her eyes while he was about that
+business, and when his back was turned, she stood a moment
+till her bosom fell a-heaving, and she wept; then she turned
+her about to the chest wherein was her raiment, and went
+hastily and did off her glorious array, and did on the green
+gown wherewith she had fled, and left her feet bare withal.
+Then she looked up and saw Christopher, how he was coming
+from out the hazel-thicket new clad in his old raiment, and
+she cried out aloud, and ran toward him.  But he doubted
+that some evil had betid, and that she was chased; so he
+drew out his sword; but she ran up to him and cried out:
+"Put up thy sword, here is none save me."
+
+But he stood still, gazing on her in wonderment, and now she
+was drawn near to him she stood still before him, panting.
+Then he said:  "Nay, Lady, for this night there was no need
+of thy disguising thee, to-morrow it had been soon enough."
+
+She said:  "I were fain if thou wouldst take my hand, and
+lead me back to our resting-place."
+
+Even so he did, and as their palms met he felt how her hand
+loved him, and a flood of sweetness swept over his heart,
+and made an end of all its soreness.  But he led her quietly
+back again to their place.  Then she turned to him and said:
+"Now art thou the woodland god again, and the courtier no
+more; so now will I worship thee."  And she knelt down
+before him, and embraced his knees and kissed them; but he
+drew her up to him, and cast his arms about her, and kissed
+her face many times, and said:  "Now art thou the poor
+captive again."
+
+She said:  "Now hast thou forgiven me; but I will tell thee
+that my wilfulness and folly was not all utterly feigned;
+though when I was about it I longed for thee to break it
+down with the fierceness of a man, and bid me look to it how
+helpless I was, and thou how strong and my only defence.
+Not utterly feigned it was:  for I will say it, that I was
+grieved to the heart when I bethought me of Meadhamstead and
+the seat of my fathers. What sayest thou then? Shalt thou be
+ever a woodman in these thickets, and a follower of Jack of
+the Tofts? If so thou wilt, it is well."
+
+He took her by the shoulders and bent her backwards to kiss
+her, and held her up above the earth in his arms, waving her
+this way and that, till she felt how little and light she
+was in his grasp, though she was no puny woman; then he set
+her on her feet again, and laughed in her face, and said:
+"Sweetling, let to-morrow bring counsel.  But now let it all
+be:  thou hast said it, thou art weary; so now will I dight
+thee a bed of our mantles, and thou shalt lie thee down, and
+I shall watch thee as thou badest me."
+
+Therewith he went about, and plucked armfuls of the young
+bracken, and made a bed wide and soft, and spread the
+mantles thereover.
+
+But she stood awhile looking on him; then she said:  "Dost
+thou think to punish me for my wilful folly, and to shame me
+by making me speak to thee?"
+
+"Nay," he said, "it is not so."
+
+She said:  "I am not shamed in that I say to thee:  if thou
+watch this night, I will watch by thee; and if I lie down to
+rest this night, thou shalt lie by me.  For my foemen have
+given me to thee, and now shalt thou give thyself to me."
+
+So he drew near to her shyly, like unto one who hath been
+forgiven.  And there was their bridal bed, and nought but
+the oak boughs betwixt them and the bare heavens.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THEY FALL IN WITH FRIENDS.
+
+
+Now awoke Goldilind when the morning was young and fresh,
+and she drew the mantle up over her shoulders; and as she
+did so, but half awake, she deemed she heard other sounds
+than the singing of the black-birds and throstles about the
+edge of the thicket, and she turned her eyes toward the oak
+trees and the hazel-thicket, and saw at once three of
+mankind coming on foot over the greensward toward her.  She
+was afraid, so that she durst not put out a hand to awaken
+Christopher, but sat gazing on those three as they came
+toward her; she saw that two were tall men, clad much as
+Christopher; but presently she saw that there was a woman
+with them, and she took heart somewhat thereat; and she
+noted that one of the men was short-haired and dark-haired,
+and the other had long red hair falling about his shoulders;
+and as she put out her hand and laid it on Christopher's
+shoulder, the red-haired one looked toward her a moment
+under the sharp of his hand (for the sun was on their side),
+and then set off running, giving out a great whoop
+therewithal.  Even therewith leapt up Christopher, still
+half awake, and the red-haired man ran right up to him, and
+caught him by the shoulders, and kissed him on both cheeks;
+so that Goldilind saw that these were the fellows whereof
+Christopher had told, and she stood there shame-fast and
+smiling.
+
+Presently came up the others, to wit, Gilbert and Joanna,
+and they also kissed and embraced Christopher, and all they
+were as full of joy as might be.  Then came Joanna to
+Goldilind, and said:  "I wot not who this may be, brother,
+yet meseems she will be someone who is dear to thee,
+wherefore is she my sister."  And therewith she kissed
+Goldilind; and she was kind, and sweet of flesh, and goodly
+of body, and Goldilind rejoiced in her.
+
+Joanna made much of her, and said to her:  "Here is to do,
+whereas two men have broken into a lady's chamber; come,
+sister, let us to the thicket, and I will be thy tiring-
+maid, and while these others tell their tales we shall tell
+ours."  And she took her hand and they went into the hazels;
+but the two new-come men seemed to find it hard to keep
+their eyes off Goldilind, till the hazels had hidden her.
+
+Then turned David to Christopher, and said:  "Thy pardon,
+little King, that we have waked thee so early; but we wotted
+not that thou hadst been amongst the wood-women; and, sooth
+to say, my lad, we had little ease till we found thee, after
+we came home and saw all those hoof-marks yonder."
+
+"Yea," said Gilbert, "if we had lost thee we had been finely
+holpen up, for we could neither have gone back to the Tofts
+nor into the kingdom:  for I think my father would have
+hanged us if we had come back with a 'By the way,
+Christopher is slain.' But tell us, lad, what hath befallen
+thee with yonder sweetling?"
+
+"Yea, tell us," said David, "and sit down here betwixt us,
+with thy back to the hazel-thicket, or we shall get no tale
+out of thee--tush, man, Joanna will bring her back, and that
+right soon, I hope."
+
+Christopher laughed, and sat down between them, and told all
+how it had gone with him, and of Goldilind, who she was.
+The others hearkened heedfully, and Gilbert said: "With all
+thou hast told us, brother, it is clear we shall find it
+hard to dwell in Littledale; so soon as thy loveling hath
+rested her at our house, we must go our ways to the Tofts,
+and take counsel of our father."
+
+Christopher yea-said this, and therewithal was come Joanna
+leading Goldilind duly arrayed (yet still in her green gown,
+for she would none other), fresh, blushing, and all lovely;
+and David and Christopher did obeisance before her as to a
+great lady; but she hailed them as brothers, merrily and
+kindly, and bade them kiss her; and they kissed her cheek,
+but shyly, and especially David.
+
+Thereafter they broke their fast under the oak trees, and
+spent a merry hour, and then departed, the two women riding
+the horses, the others afoot; so came they to the house of
+Littledale, some while before sunset, and were merry and
+glad there.  Young they were, troubles were behind them, and
+many a joy before them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THEY TAKE COUNSEL AT LITTLEDALE.
+
+
+Ten days they abode in the house of Littledale in all good
+cheer, and Joanna led Goldilind here and there about the
+woods, and made much of her, so that the heart within her
+was full of joy, for the freedom of the wild-woods and all
+the life thereof was well-nigh new to her; whereas on the
+day of her flight from Greenharbour, and on two other such
+times, deadly fear, as is aforesaid, was mingled with her
+joyance, and would have drowned it utterly, but for the
+wilfulness which hardened her heart against the punishment
+to come.  But now she was indeed free, and it seemed to her,
+as to Christopher when he was but new healed of his hurt, as
+if all this bright beauty of tree and flower, and beast and
+bird, was but made for her alone, and she wondered that her
+fellow could be so calm and sedate amidst of all this
+pleasure.  And now, forsooth, was her queenhood forgotten,
+and better and better to her seemed Christopher's valiant
+love; and the meeting in the hall of the eventide was so
+sweet to her, that she might do little but stand trembling
+whiles Christopher came up to her, and Joanna's trim feet
+were speeding her over the floor to meet her man, that she
+might be a sharer in his deeds of the day.
+
+Many tales withal Joanna told the Queen of the deeds of her
+husband and his kindred, and of the freeing of her and the
+other three from their captivity at Wailing Knowe, and of
+the evil days they wore there before the coming of their
+lads, which must have been worser by far, thought Goldilind,
+than the days of Greenharbour; so with all these tales, and
+the happy days in the house of the wild-woods, Goldilind now
+began to deem of this new life as if there had been none
+other fated for her, so much a part was she now become of
+the days of those woodmen and wolf-heads.
+
+But when the last of those ten days was wearing to an end
+and those five were sitting happy in the hall (albeit David
+sat somewhat pensive, now staring at Goldilind's beauty, now
+rising from his seat to pace the floor restlessly), Gilbert
+spake and said:  "Brethren, and thou, Queen Goldilind, it
+may be that the time is drawing near for other deeds than
+letting fly a few shafts at the dun deer, and eating our
+meat, and singing old songs as we lie at our ladies' feet;
+for though we be at peace here in the wild-wood, forgetting
+all things save those that are worthy to be remembered, yet
+in the cities and the courts of kings guile is not
+forgotten, and pride is alive, and tyranny, and the sword is
+whetted for innocent lives, and the feud is eked by the
+destruction of those who be sackless of its upheaving.
+Wherefore it behoveth to defend us by the ready hand and the
+bold heart and the wise head.  So, I say, let us loiter here
+no longer, but go our ways to-morrow to the Tofts, and take
+the rede of our elders.  How say ye, brethren?"
+
+Quoth Christopher:  "Time was, brother, when what thou
+sayest would have been as a riddle to me, and I would have
+said:  Here are we merry, though we be few; and if ye lack
+more company, let me ride to the Tofts and come back with a
+half score of lads and lasses, and thus let us eke our
+mirth; and maybe they will tell us whitherward to ride. But
+now there is a change, since I have gained a gift over-great
+for me, and I know that they shall be some of the great ones
+who would be eager to take it from me; and who knows what
+guile may be about the weaving even now, as on the day when
+thou first sawest this hall, beloved."
+
+Goldilind spake and sighed withal:  "Whither my lord will
+lead me, thither will I go; but here is it fair and sweet
+and peaceful; neither do I look for it that men will come
+hither to seek the Queen of Meadham."
+
+David said:  "Bethink thee, though, my Lady, that he who
+wedded thee to the woodman may yet rue, and come hither to
+undo his deed, by slaying the said woodman, and showing the
+Queen unto the folk."
+
+Goldilind turned pale; but Joanna spake:  "Nay, brother
+David, why wilt thou prick her heart with this fear? For my
+part, I think that, chance-hap apart, we might dwell here
+for years in all safety, and happily enough, maybe.  Yet
+also I say that we of the Tofts may well be eager to show
+this jewel to our kindred, and especially to our father and
+mother of the Tofts; so to-morrow we will set about the
+business of carrying her thither, will she, nill she."  And
+therewith she threw her arms about Goldilind, and clipped
+her and kissed her; and Goldilind reddened for pleasure and
+for joy that she was so sore prized by them all.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+NOW THEY ALL COME TO THE TOFTS.
+
+
+Next morning, while the day was yet young, they rode
+together, all of them, the nighest way to the Tofts, for
+they knew the wood right well.  Again they slept one night
+under the bare heavens, and, rising betimes on the morrow,
+came out under the Tofts some four hours after high noon, on
+as fair and calm a day of early summer as ever was seen.
+
+They rode up straight to the door of the great hall, and
+found but few folk about, and those mostly women and
+children; Jack was ridden abroad, they said, but they looked
+to see him back to supper, him and his sons, for he was no
+great way gone.
+
+Meantime, when they got off their horses, the women and
+children thronged round about them; and the children
+especially about Christopher, whom they loved much.  The
+maidens, also, would not have him pass into the hall
+unkissed, though presently, after their faces had felt his
+lips, they fell a-staring and wondering at Goldilind, and
+when Christopher took her by the hand and gave her welcome
+to the House of the Tofts, and they saw that she was his,
+they grew to be somewhat afraid, or it might be shy, both of
+her and of him.
+
+Anyhow, folk came up to them in the hall, and made much of
+them, and took them unto chambers and washed their feet, and
+crowned them with flowers, and brought them into the hall
+again, and up on to the dais, and gave them to eat and
+drink.  Thither came to them also the Lady Margaret, Jack's
+wedded wife, and made them the most cheer that she might;
+and unto her did Christopher tell his story as unto his very
+mother; and what there was in the house, both of carle and
+of quean, gathered round about to hearken, and Christopher
+nothing loth.  And Goldilind's heart warmed toward that
+folk, and in sooth they were a goodly people to look on, and
+frank and happy, and of good will, and could well of
+courtesy, though it were not of the courts.
+
+Wore the bright day, and it drew toward sunset, and now the
+carles came straight into the hall by twos and threes, till
+there were a many within its walls.  But to each one of
+these knots as they entered, someone, carle or quean, spake
+a word or two, and straightway the new-comers went up to the
+dais and greeted Christopher pleasantly, and made obeisance
+to Goldilind.
+
+At last was the hall, so quiet erst, grown busy as a
+beehive, and amidst the throng thereof came in the
+serving-folk, women and men, and set the endlong boards up
+(for the high-table was a standing one of oak, right thick
+and strong); and then they fell to bringing in the service,
+all but what the fire was dealing with in the kitchen.  And
+whiles this was a-doing, the sun was sinking fast, and it
+was dusk in the hall by then it was done, though without the
+sky was fair and golden, and about the edges of the thicket
+were the nightingales singing loud and sweet, but within was
+the turmoil of many voices, whereof few heeded if their
+words were loud or soft.
+
+Amidst all this, from close to the hall, rang out the sound
+of many horns winding a woodland tune.  None was afeard or
+astonied, because all knew it for the horns of Jack of the
+Tofts; but they stilled their chattering talk somewhat, and
+abided his coming; and even therewith came the sound of many
+feet and the clash of weapons, and men poured in, and there
+was the gleam of steel, as folk fell back to the right and
+left, and gave room to the new-comers.  Then a loud, clear,
+and cheery voice cried out from amidst of them: "Light in
+the hall, men and maids! Candles, candles! Let see who is
+here before us!"
+
+Straightway then was there running hither and thither and
+light sprang up over all the hall, and there could folk see
+Jack of the Tofts, and a score and a half of his best, every
+man of them armed with shield and helm and byrny, with green
+coats over their armour, and wreaths of young oak about
+their basnets; there they stood amidst of the hall, and
+every man with his naked sword in his fist.  Jack stood
+before his folk clad in like wise with them, save that his
+head was bare but for an oak wreath.  Men looked on a while
+and said nought, while Jack looked proudly and keenly over
+the hall, and at last his eye caught Christopher's, but he
+made the youngling no semblance of greeting. Christopher's
+heart fell, and he misdoubted if something were not wrong;
+but he spake softly to one who stood by him, and said:  "Is
+aught amiss, Will Ashcroft? this is not the wont here."
+
+Said the other:  "Not in thy time; but for the last seven
+days it hath been the wont, and then off weapons and to
+supper peaceably.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+OF THE KING OF OAKENREALM.
+
+
+Even therewith, and while the last word had but come to
+Christopher's ears, rang out the voice of Jack of the Tofts
+again, louder and clearer than before:  and he said:  "Men
+in this hall, I bear you tidings! The King of Oakenrealm is
+amongst us to-night."
+
+Then, forsooth, was the noise and the turmoil, and cries and
+shouts and clatter, and fists raised in air and weapons
+caught down from the wall, and the glitter of spear-points
+and gleam of fallow blades.  For the name of Rolf, King of
+Oakenrealm, was to those woodmen as the name of the Great
+Devil of Hell, so much was he their unfriend and their
+dastard.  But Jack raised up his hand, and cried:  "Silence
+ye! Blow up, horns, The Hunt's Up!"
+
+Blared out the horns then, strong and fierce, under the
+hall-roof, and when they were done, there was more silence
+in the hall than in the summer night without; only the voice
+of the swords could not be utterly still, but yet tinkled
+and rang as hard came against hard here and there in the
+hush.
+
+Again spake Jack:  "Let no man speak! Let no man move from
+his place! I SEE THE KING! Ye shall see him!"
+
+Therewith he strode up the hall and on to the dais, and came
+up to where stood Christopher holding Goldilind's hand, and
+she all pale and trembling; but Jack took him by the
+shoulder, and turned him about toward a seat which stood
+before the board, so that all men in the hall could see it;
+then he set him down in it, and took his sword from his
+girdle, and knelt down before the young man, and took his
+right hand, and said in a loud voice:  "I, Jack of the
+Tofts, a free man and a sackless, wrongfully beguilted, am
+the man of King Christopher of Oakenrealm, to live and die
+for him as need may be.  Lo, Lord, my father's blade! Wilt
+thou be good to me and gird me therewith, as thy father girt
+him?"
+
+Now when Christopher heard him, at first he deemed that all
+this was some sport or play done for his pastime and the
+pleasure of the hall-folk in all kindness and honour.  But
+when he looked in the eyes of him, and saw him fierce and
+eager and true, he knew well it was no jest; and as the
+shouts of men went up from the hall and beat against the
+roof, himseemed that he remembered, as in a dream, folk
+talking a-nigh him when he was too little to understand, of
+a king and his son, and a mighty man turned thief and
+betrayer. Then his brow cleared, and his eyes shone bright,
+and he leaned forward to Jack and girt him with the sword,
+and kissed his mouth, and said:  "Thou art indeed my man and
+my thane and my earl, and I gird thee with thy sword as my
+father girded thy father."
+
+Then stood up Jack o' the Tofts and said:  "Men in this
+hall, happy is the hour, and happy are ye! This man is the
+King of Oakenrealm, and he yonder is but a thief of kings, a
+dastard!"
+
+And again great was the shouting, for carle and quean, young
+and old, they loved Christopher well:  and Jack of the Tofts
+was not only their war-duke and alderman, but their wise man
+also, and none had any thought of gainsaying him.  But he
+spake again and said:  "Is there here any old man, or not so
+old, who hath of past days seen our King that was, King
+Christopher to wit, who fell in battle on our behalf? If so
+there be, let him come up hither."
+
+Then arose a greybeard from a bench nigh the high-table, and
+came up on to the dais; a very tall man had he been, but was
+now somewhat bowed by age.  He now knelt before Christopher,
+and took his hand, and said:  "I, William of Whittenham, a
+free man, a knight, sackless of the guilt which is laid on
+me, would be thy man, O my lord King, to serve thee in all
+wise; if so be that I may live to strike one stroke for my
+master's son, whom now I see, the very living image of the
+King whom I served in my youth."
+
+Then Christopher bent down to him and kissed him, and said:
+"Thou art indeed my man and my thane & my baron; and who
+knows but that thou mayst have many a stroke to strike for
+me in the days that are nigh at hand."
+
+And again the people shouted:  and then there came another
+and another, and ten more squires and knights and men of
+estate, who were now indeed woodmen and wolf-heads, but who,
+the worst of them, were sackless of aught save slaying an
+unfriend, or a friend's unfriend, in fair fight; and all
+these kneeled before him, and put their hands in his, and
+gave themselves unto him.
+
+When this was done, there came thrusting through the throng
+of the hall a tall woman, old, yet comely as for her age;
+she went right up on to the dais, and came to where sat
+Christopher, and without more ado cast her arms about him
+and kissed him, and then she held him by the shoulders and
+cried out:  "O, have I found thee at last, my loveling, and
+my dear, and my nurse-chick? and thou grown so lovely and
+yet so big that I may never more hold thee aloft in mine
+arms, as once I was wont; though high enough belike thou
+shalt be lifted; and I say praise be to God and to his
+Hallows that thou art grown so beauteous and mighty a man!"
+
+Therewith she turned about toward the hall-throng and said:
+"Thou, duke of these woodmen, and all ye in this hall, I
+have been brought hither by one of you; and though I have
+well-nigh died of joy because of the suddenness of this
+meeting, yet I thank him therefor.  For who is this goodly
+and gracious young man save the King's son of Oakenrealm,
+Christopher that was; and that to my certain knowledge; for
+he is my fosterling and my milk-child, and I took him from
+the hands of the midwife in the High House of Oakenham a
+twenty-one years ago; and they took him from Oakenham, and
+me with him to the house of Lord Richard the Lean, at
+Longholms, and there we dwelt; but in a little while they
+took him away from Longholms to I wot not whither, but would
+not suffer me to go along with him, and ever sithence have I
+been wandering about and hoping to see this lovely child
+again, and now I see him, what he is, and again I thank God
+and Allhallows therefor."
+
+Once more then was there stir and glad tumult in the hall.
+But Goldilind stood wondering, and fear entered into her
+soul; for she saw before her a time of turmoil and unpeace,
+and there seemed too much between her and the sweetness of
+her love.  Withal it must be said, that for as little as she
+knew of courts and war-hosts, she yet seemed to see lands
+without that hall, and hosts marching, and mighty walls
+glittering with spears, and the banners of a great King
+displayed; and Jack of the Tofts and his champions and good
+fellows seemed but a frail defence against all that, when
+once the hidden should be shown, and the scantiness of the
+woodland should cry on the abundance of the kingdom to bow
+down.
+
+Now she came round the board and stood beside Christopher,
+and he turned to her, and stood up and took her hand, in
+such wise that she felt the caress of it; and joy filled her
+soul, as if she had been alone with him in the wild-wood.
+
+But he spake and said:  "All ye my friends:  I see and wot
+well that ye would have me sit in my father's seat and be
+the King of Oakenrealm, and that ye will give me help and
+furtherance therein to the utmost; nor will I cast back the
+gift upon you; and I will say this, that when I am King
+indeed, it is my meaning and my will now, that then I shall
+be no less one of you good fellows and kind friends than ye
+have known me hitherto; and even so I deem that ye think of
+me.  But, good friends, it is not to be hidden that the road
+ye would have me wend with you is like to be rough; and it
+may well be that we shall not come to be kings or kings'
+friends but men hunted, and often, maybe, men taken and
+slain.  Therefore, till one thing or the other come, the
+kingship, or the taking, I will try to be no less joyous
+than now I am, and so meseemeth shall ye; and if ye be of
+this mind, then shall the coming days be no worse than the
+days which have been; and God wot they have been happy
+enough.  Now again, ye see this most fair lady, whose hand I
+hold; she is my beloved and my wife; and therewithal she is
+the true Queen of Meadham, and a traitor sits in her place
+even as a traitor sits in mine.  But I must tell you that
+when she took me for her beloved, she knew not, nor did I,
+that I was a King's son, but she took me as a woodman and an
+outcast, and as a wood-man and outcast I wooed her, trusting
+in the might that was in my body, and the love that was in
+my heart; and now before all you, my friends, I thank her
+and worship her that my body and my love was enough for her;
+as, God wot, the kingship of the whole earth should not be
+overmuch for her, if it lay open to her to take.  But, sweet
+friends, here am I talking of myself as a King wedded unto a
+Queen, whereas meseemeth the chiefest gift our twin kingship
+hath brought you to-night is the gift of two most mighty
+unfriends for you; to wit, her foeman and mine.  See ye to
+it, then, if the wild-wood yonder is not a meeter dwelling
+for us than this your goodly hall; and fear not to put us to
+the door as a pair of make-bates and a peril to this goodly
+company.  Lo you, the sky without has not yet lost all
+memory of the sun, and in a little while it will be
+yellowing again to the dawn.  Nought evil shall be the
+wild-wood for our summer dwelling; and what! ere the winter
+come, we may have won us another house where erst my fathers
+feasted.  And thereto, my friends, do I bid you all."
+
+But when they heard his friendly words, and saw the beauty
+of the fair woman whose hand he held, his face grew so
+well-beloved to them, that they cried out with so great a
+voice of cheer, wordless for their very joy, that the
+timbers of the hall quavered because of it, and it went out
+into the wild-wood as though it had been the feastful
+roaring of the ancient gods of the forest.
+
+But when the tumult sank a little, then cried out Jack of
+the Tofts:  "Bring now the mickle shield, and let us look
+upon our King."
+
+So men went and fetched in a huge ancient shield, plated
+with berry-brown iron, inlaid with gold, and the four
+biggest men in the hall took it on their shoulders and knelt
+down anigh the dais, before Christopher, and Jack said
+aloud:  "King! King! Stand up here! for this war-board of
+old days is the castle and the burg alone due to thee, and
+these four fellows here are the due mountains to upbear it."
+
+Then lightly strode Child Christopher on to the shield, and
+when he stood firm thereon, they rose heedfully underneath
+him till they were standing upright on their feet, and the
+King stood on the shield as if he were grown there, and
+waved his naked sword to the four orts.
+
+Then cried out an old woman in a shrill voice:  "Lo, how the
+hills rise up into tall mountains; even so shall arise Child
+Christopher to the kingship."
+
+Thereat all the folk laughed for joy and cried out:  "Child
+Christopher! Child Christopher, our King!" And for that
+word, when he came to the crown indeed, and ruled wide
+lands, was he called Child Christopher; and that name clave
+to him after he was dead, and but a name in the tale of his
+kindred.
+
+Now the King spake and said:  "Friends, now is it time to
+get to the board, and the feast which hath been stayed this
+while; and I pray you let it be as merry as if there were no
+striving and unpeace betwixt us and the winning of peace.
+But to-morrow we will hallow-in the Mote, and my earl and my
+barons and good men shall give counsel, and then shall it be
+that the hand shall do what the heart biddeth."
+
+Therewith he leapt down from the shield, and went about the
+hall talking to this one and that, till the board was full
+dight; then he took his place in the high-seat, beside Jack
+of the Tofts; and David and Gilbert and his other
+foster-brethren sat on either side of him, and their wives
+with them; and men fell to feasting in great glee.
+
+But one thing there is yet to tell of this feast.  When men
+had drunk a cup or two, and drunk memories to good men dead,
+and healths to good men living, amidst this arose a
+grey-head carle from the lower end of the hall, and said:
+"Child Christopher, thy grace, that I may crave a boon of
+thee on this day of leal service.'
+
+"Ask then," said Christopher, with a pleasant face.
+
+"King," quoth the carle, "here are we all gathered together,
+and we have before us the most beautifullest woman of the
+world, who sitteth by thy side; now to-night we be all dear
+friends, and there is no lack between us; yet who can say
+how often we may meet and things be so? I do not say that
+there shall enmity and dissension arise between us, though
+that may betide; but it is not unlike that another time
+thou, King, and thy mate, may be prouder than now ye be,
+since now ye are new to it.  And if that distance grow
+between us, it will avail nought to ask my boon then."
+
+"Well, well, ask it now, friend," said the King, laughing;
+"I were fain of ending the day with a gift."
+
+"This it is then, King," said the carle:  "since we are here
+set down before the loveliest woman in the world, grant us
+this, that all we men-folk may for this once kiss the face
+of her, if she will have it so."
+
+Huge laughter and cheers arose at his word; but King
+Christopher arose and said: "Friend, thy boon is granted
+with a good will; or how sayest thou, Goldilind my beloved?
+
+For all answer she stood up blushing like a rose, and held
+out her two hands to the men in the hall.  And straightway
+the old carle rose up and went in haste to the high-table,
+before another man might stir, and took Goldilind by the
+chin, and kissed her well-favouredly, and again men laughed
+joyously.  Then came before her Jack of the Tofts and all
+his sons, one after other, and kissed her face, save only
+David, who knelt humbly before her, and took her right hand
+and kissed it, while the tears were in his eyes.  Then came
+many of the men in the hall, and some were bold, but many
+were shy, and when they came before her durst kiss neither
+hand nor face of her, but their hearts were full of her when
+they went to their places again; and all the assembly was
+praising her.
+
+So wore the time of that first night of the kingship of
+Child Christopher.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+OF THE HUSTING OF THE TOFTS.
+
+
+When morning was, there were horns sounding from the tower
+on the toft, and all men hastening in their war-gear to the
+topmost of the other toft, the bare one, whereon was no
+building; for thereon was ever the mote-stead of these
+woodmen.  But men came not only from the stead and houses of
+the Tofts, but also from the woodland cots and dwellings
+anigh, of which were no few.  And they that came there first
+found King Christopher sitting on the mound amid the
+mote-stead, and Jack of the Tofts and his seven sons sitting
+by him, and all they well-weaponed and with green coats over
+their hauberks; and they that came last found three hundreds
+of good men and true gathered there, albeit this was but the
+Husting of the Tofts.
+
+So when there were no more to come, then was the Mote
+hallowed, and the talk began; but short and sharp was their
+rede, for well did all men wot who had been in the hall the
+night before that there was now no time to lose.  For though
+nigh all the men that had been in the hall were well known
+to each other, yet might there perchance have been some spy
+unknown, who had edged him in as a guest to one of the good
+men.  Withal, as the saw saith:  The word flieth, the wight
+dieth.  And it were well if they might gather a little host
+ere their foeman might gather a mickle.
+
+First therefore arose Jack of the Tofts, and began shortly
+to put forth the sooth, that there was come the son of King
+Christopher the Old, and that now he was seeking to his
+kingdom, not for lust of power and gain, but that he might
+be the friend of good men and true, and uphold them and be
+by them upholden.  And saith he:  "Look ye on the face of
+this man, and tell me where ye shall find a friend
+friendlier than he, and more single-hearted?" And therewith
+he laid his hand on Christopher's head, and the young man
+rose up, blushing like a maid, and thereafter a long time
+could no lord be heard for the tumult of gladness and the
+clashing of weapons.
+
+But when it was a little hushed, then spake Jack again:
+"Now need no man say more to man on this matter, for ye call
+this curly-headed lad the King of Oakenrealm, even as some
+of ye did last night."
+
+Mighty was the shout of yea-say that arose at that word; and
+when it was stilled, a grey-head stood up and said:  "King
+Christopher, and thou, our leader, whom we shall henceforth
+call Earl, it is now meet that we shear up the war-arrow,
+and send it forth to whithersoever we deem our friends
+dwell, and that this be done at once here in this Mote, and
+that the hosting be after three nights' frist in the plain
+of Hazeldale, which all ye know is twelve miles nigher to
+Oakenrealm than this."
+
+All men yea-said this, no one gainsaid it; and straightway
+was fire kindled and the bull slain, for the said elder had
+brought him thither; and the arrow was sheared and scorched
+and reddened, and the runners were fetched, and the word
+given them, and they were sped on their errand.
+
+Up rose then another, a young man, and spake:  "Many stout
+fellows be here, and some wise and well-ruled, and many also
+hot-head and wilful:  Child Christopher is King now, and we
+all know him that when he cometh into the fray he is like to
+strike three strokes for two that any other winneth; but as
+to his lore of captainship, if he hath any, he was born with
+it, as is like enough, seeing who was his father; therefore
+we need a captain well-proven, to bid us how to turn hither
+and thither, and where to gather thickest, and where to
+spread thinnest; and when to fall on fiercely and when to
+give way, and let the thicket cover us; for wise in war
+shall our foemen be.  Now therefore if anyone needeth a
+better captain than our kin-father and war-father Jack of
+the Tofts, he must needs go fetch him from otherwhere! How
+sayest thou, Christopher lad?"
+
+Great cheer there was at the word, and laughter no little
+therewith.  But Christopher stood up, and took Jack by the
+hand, and said:  "Now say I, that if none else follow this
+man into battle, yet will I; and if none else obey him to go
+backward or forward to the right hand or to the left as he
+biddeth, yet will I.  Thou, Wilfrid Wellhead, look to it
+that thou dost no less.  But ye folk, what will ye herein?"
+
+So they all yea-said Jack of the Tofts for captain; and
+forsooth they might do no less, for he was wary and wise,
+and had done many deeds, and seen no little of warfare.
+
+Then again arose a man of some forty winters, strong built
+and not ungoodly, but not merry of countenance, and he
+spake:  "King and war-leader, I have a word to say:  We be
+wending to battle, we carles, with spear in fist and sword
+by side; and if we die in the fray, of the day's work is it;
+but what do we with our kinswomen, as mothers and daughters
+and wives and she-friends, and the little ones they have
+borne us? For, see ye! this warfare we are faring, maybe it
+shall not last long, and yet maybe it shall; and then may
+the foeman go about us and fall on this stead if we leave
+them behind here with none to guard them; and if, on the
+other hand, we leave them men enough for their warding, then
+we minish our host overmuch.  What do we then?"
+
+Then spake Jack of the Tofts:  "This is well thought of by
+Haward of Whiteacre, and we must look to it.  And, by my
+rede, we shall have our women and little ones with us; and
+why not? For we shall then but be moving Toftstead as we
+move; and ever to some of us hath it been as a camp rather
+than an house.  Moreover, ye know it, that our women be no
+useless and soft queans, who durst not lie under the oak
+boughs for a night or two, or wade a water over their
+ankles, but valiant they be, and kind, and helpful; and many
+of them are there who can draw a bow with the best, and, it
+may be, push a spear if need were.  How say ye, lads?"
+
+Now this also they yea-said gladly; forsooth they had scarce
+been fain of leaving the women behind, at least the younger
+ones, even had they been safe at the Tofts; for there is no
+time when a man would gladlier have a fair woman in his arms
+than when battle and life-peril are toward.
+
+Thereafter the Mote sundered, when the Captain had bidden
+his men this and that matter that each should look to; and
+said that he, for his part, with King Christopher and a
+chosen band, would set off for Hazeldale on the morrow morn,
+whereas some deal of the gathering would of a certainty be
+come thither by then; and that there was enough left of that
+day to see to matters at the Tofts.
+
+So all men went about their business, which was, for the
+most part, seeing to the victualling of the host.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+OF THE HOSTING IN HAZELDALE.
+
+
+On the morrow early was Jack of the Tofts dight for
+departure, with Christopher and David and Gilbert and five
+score of his best men.  But when they went out of the porch
+into the sweet morning, lo! there was Goldilind before them,
+clad in her green gown, and as fresh and dear as the early
+day itself.  And Jack looked on her and said:  "And thou, my
+Lady and Queen, thou art dight as thou wouldst wend with
+us?"
+
+"Yea," she said, "and why not?"
+
+"What sayest thou, King Christopher?" said the Captain.
+
+"Nay," said King Christopher, reddening, "it is for thee to
+yea-say or nay-say; though true it is that I have bidden her
+farewell for two days' space."  And the two stood looking on
+one another.
+
+But Jack laughed and said:  "Well, then, so be it; but let
+us get to the way, or else when the sweethearts of these
+lads know that we have a woman with us we shall have them
+all at our backs."  Thereat all laughed who were within
+earshot, and were merry.
+
+So they wended the woodland ways, some afoot, some
+a-horseback, of whom was Jack of the Tofts, but Christopher
+and David went afoot.  And Goldilind rode a fair white horse
+which the Captain had gotten her.
+
+As they went, and King Christopher ever by Goldilind's right
+hand, and were merry and joyous, they two were alone in the
+woodland way; so Christopher took her hand and kissed it,
+and said:  "Sweetling, why didst thou tell me nought of thy
+will to come along with us? Never had I balked thee."
+
+She looked at him, blushing as a rose, and said:  "Dear
+friend, I will tell thee; I knew that thou wouldst make our
+parting piteous-sweet this morning; and of that I would not
+be balked.  See, then, how rich I am, since I have both
+parted from thee and have thee." And therewith she louted
+down from her saddle, and they kissed together sweetly, and
+so thereafter wore the way.
+
+So came they to the plain of Hazeldale, which was a wide
+valley with a middling river winding about it, the wild-wood
+at its back toward the Tofts, and in front down-land nought
+wooded, save here and there a tree nigh a homestead or cot;
+for that way the land was builded for a space.  Forsooth it
+was not easy for the folk thereabout to live quietly, but if
+they were friends in some wise to Jack of the Tofts.
+
+So when the company of the Tofts came out into the dale
+about three hours after noon, it was no wonder to them to
+see men riding and going to and fro, and folk pitching tents
+and raising booths nigh to the cover of the wood; and when
+the coming of the Toft-folk was seen, and the winding of
+their horns heard, there was many a glad cry raised in
+answer, and many an horn blown, and all men there came
+running together toward where now was stayed Jack of the
+Tofts and Christopher and their men.
+
+Then Goldilind bade Christopher help her light down; so he
+took her in his arms, and was not over hasty in setting her
+down again.  But when she stood by him, she looked over the
+sunny field darkened by the folk hastening over the
+greensward, and her eyes glittered and her cheek flushed,
+and she said:  "Lord King, be these some others of thy men?"
+
+"Yea, sweetling," said he, "to live and die with me."
+
+She looked on him, and said softly:  "Maybe it were an ill
+wish to wish that I were thou; yet if it might be for one
+hour!"
+
+Said he:  "Shall it not be for more than one hour? Shall it
+not be for evermore, since we twain are become one?"
+
+"Nay," she said, "this is but a word; I am but thine
+handmaid:  and now I can scarce refrain my body from falling
+before thy feet."
+
+He laughed in her face for joy, and said:  "Abide a while,
+until these men have looked on thee, and then shalt thou see
+how thou wilt be a flame of war in their hearts that none
+shall withstand."
+
+Now were the dale-dwellers all come together in their
+weapons, and they were glad of their King and his loveling;
+and stout men were they all, albeit some were old, and some
+scarce of man's age.  So they were ranked and told over, and
+the tale of them was over six score who had obeyed the
+war-arrow, and more and more, they said, would come in every
+hour.  But now the Captains of them bade the Toft-folk eat
+with them; and they yea-said the bidding merrily, and word
+was given, and sacks and baskets brought forth, and barrels
+to boot, and all men sat down on the greensward, and high
+was the feast and much the merriment on the edge of
+Hazeldale.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+TIDINGS COME TO HAZELDALE.
+
+
+But they had not done their meat, and had scarce begun upon
+their drink, ere they saw three men come riding on the spur
+over the crown of the bent before them; these made no stay
+for aught, but rode straight through the ford of the river,
+as men who knew well where it was, and came on hastily
+toward the feasters by the wood-edge.  Then would some have
+run to meet them, but Jack of the Tofts bade them abide till
+he had heard the tidings; whereas they needed not to run to
+their weapons, for, all of them, they were fully dight for
+war, save, it might be, the doing on of their sallets or
+basnets.  But Jack and Christopher alone went forward to
+meet those men; and the foremost of them cried out at once:
+"I know thee, Jack of the Tofts! I know thee! Up and arm! up
+and arm! for the foemen are upon thee; and so choose thee
+whether thou wilt fight or flee."
+
+Quoth Jack, laughing:  "I know thee also, Wat of Whiteend;
+and when thou hast told me how many and who be the foemen,
+we will look either to fighting or fleeing."
+
+Said Wat:  "Thou knowest the blazon of the banner which we
+saw, three red wolves running on a silver field?"
+
+"Yea, forsooth," said Jack; "'tis the Baron of Brimside that
+beareth that shield ever; and the now Baron, hight the Lord
+Gandolf, how many was he?"
+
+Said Wat:  "Ten hundreds or more.  But what say fellows?"
+
+Quoth the other twain:  "More, more they were."
+
+Said Jack of the Tofts:  "And when shall he be here, deem
+ye?"
+
+"In less than an hour," said Wat, "he will be on thee with
+great and small; but his riders, some of them, in lesser
+space."
+
+Then turned Jack about and cried out for David, and when he
+came, he said:  "Put thy long legs over a good horse, and
+ride straight back to the Tofts and gather whatever may bear
+spear and draw bow, and hither with them, lad, by the
+nighest road; tarry not, speak no word, be gone!"
+
+So David turned, and was presently riding swiftly back
+through the woodland paths. But Jack spake to the bearers of
+tidings:  "Good fellows, go ye yonder and bid them give you
+a morsel and a cup; and tell all the tidings, and this,
+withal, that we have nought to flee from a good fightstead
+for Gandolf of Brimside."  Therewith he turned to
+Christopher and said:  "Thy pardon, King, but these matters
+must be seen to straightway.  Now do thou help me array our
+folk, for there is heart enough in them as in thee and me;
+and mayhappen we may make an end to this matter now and
+here. Moreover, the Baron of Brimside is a stout carle, so
+fight we must, meseemeth."
+
+Then he called to them one of the captains of the Tofts and
+they three spake together heedfully a little, and thereafter
+they fell to work arraying the folk; and King Christopher
+did his part therein deftly and swiftly, for quick of wit he
+was, and that the more whenso anything was to be done.
+
+As to the array, the main of the folk that were spearmen and
+billmen but moved forward somewhat from where they had dined
+to the hanging of the bent, so that their foemen would have
+the hill against them or ever they came on point and edge.
+But the bowmen, of whom were now some two hundreds, for many
+men had come in after the first tally, were spread abroad on
+the left hand of the spearmen toward the river, where the
+ground was somewhat broken, and bushed with thorn-bushes.
+And a bight of the water drew nearer to the Tofters, amidst
+of which was a flat eyot, edged with willows and covered
+with firm and sound greensward, and was some thirty yards
+endlong and twenty overthwart.  So there they abode the
+coming of the foe, and it was now hard on five o'clock.
+
+But Christopher went up to Goldilind where she stood amidst
+of the spearmen, hand turning over hand, and her feet
+wandering to and fro almost without her will; and when he
+came to her, she had much ado to refrain her from falling on
+his bosom and weeping there.  But he cried to her gaily:
+"Now, my Lady and Queen, thou shalt see a fair play toward
+even sooner than we looked for; and thine eyes shall follow
+me, if the battle be thronged, by this token, that amongst
+all these good men and true I only wear a forgilded basnet
+with a crown about it."
+
+"O!" she said, "if it were but over, and thou alive and
+free! I would pay for that, I deem, if I might, by a sojourn
+in Greenharbour again."
+
+"What!" he said, "that I might have to thrust myself into
+the peril of snatching thee forth again?" And he laughed
+merrily.  "Nay," said he, "this play must needs begin before
+it endeth; and by Saint Nicholas, I deem that to-day it
+beginneth well."
+
+But she put her hands before her face, and her shoulders
+were shaken with sobs.  "Alas! sweetling," said he, "that my
+joy should be thy sorrow! But, I pray thee, take not these
+stout-hearts for runaways.  And Oh! look, look!"
+
+She looked up, wondering and timorous, but all about her the
+men sprang up and shouted, and tossed up bill and sword, and
+the echo of their cries came back from the bowmen on the
+left, and Christopher's sword came rattling out of the
+scabbard and went gleaming up aloft.  Then words came into
+the cry of the folk, and Goldilind heard it, that they cried
+"Child Christopher! King Christopher!" Then over her head
+came a sound of flapping and rending as the evening wind
+beat about the face of the wood; and she heard folk cry
+about her:  "The banner, the banner! Ho for the Wood-wife of
+Oakenrealm!"
+
+Then her eyes cleared for what was aloof before her, and she
+saw a dark mass come spreading down over the bent on the
+other side of the river, and glittering points and broad
+gleams of white light amidst of it, and noise came from it;
+and she knew that here were come the foemen.  But she
+thought to herself that they looked not so many after all;
+and she looked at the great and deft bodies of their folk,
+and their big-headed spears and wide-bladed glaves and
+bills, and strove with her heart and refrained her fear, and
+thrust back the image which had arisen before her of
+Greenharbour come back again, and she lonely and naked in
+the Least Guard-chamber:  and she stood firm, and waved her
+hand to greet the folk.
+
+And lo! there was Christopher kneeling before her and
+kissing her hand, and great shouts arising about her of "The
+Lady of Oakenrealm! The Lady of Meadham! For the Lady! For
+the Lady!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+OF THE FIELD THAT WAS SET IN THE HOLM OF HAZELDALE.
+
+
+Now thither cometh Jack o' the Tofts, and spake to
+Christopher:  "See thou, lad--Lord King, I should say; this
+looketh not like very present battle, for they be stayed
+half way down the bent; and lo thou, some half score are
+coming forth from the throng with a white shield raised
+aloft.  Do we in likewise, for they would talk with us."
+
+"Shall we trust them, father?" said Christopher.
+
+"Trust them we may, son," said Jack; "Gandolf is a violent
+man, and a lifter of other men's goods, but I deem not so
+evil of him as that he would bewray troth."
+
+So then they let do a white cloth over a shield and hoist it
+on a long spear, and straightway they gat to horse, Jack of
+the Tofts, and Christopher, and Haward of Whiteacre, and
+Gilbert, and a half score all told; and they rode straight
+down to the ford, which was just below the tail of the eyot
+aforesaid, and as they went, they saw the going of the
+others, who were by now hard on the waterside; and said
+Jack:  "See now, King Christopher, he who rides first in a
+surcoat of his arms is even the Baron, the black
+bullet-headed one; and the next to him, the red-head, is his
+squire and man, Oliver Marson, a stout man, but fierce and
+grim-hearted.  Lo thou, they are taking the water, but they
+are making for the eyot and not our shore:  son mine, this
+will mean a hazeled field in the long run; but now they will
+look for us to come to them therein.  Yea, now they are
+aland and have pitched their white shield.  And hearken,
+that is their horn; blow we an answer:  ho, noise! set thy
+lips to the brass."
+
+So then, when one horn had done its song, the other took it
+up, and all men of both hosts knew well that the horns blew
+but for truce and parley.
+
+Now come the Toft-folk to the ford, and take the water,
+which was very shallow on their side, and when they come up
+on to the eyot, they find the Baron and his folk off their
+horses, and lying on the green grass, so they also lighted
+down and stood and hailed the new comers.  Then uprose the
+Lord Gandolf, and greeted the Toft-folk, and said:  "Jack of
+the Tofts, thou ridest many-manned to-day."
+
+"Yea, Lord," said Jack, "and thou also.  What is thine
+errand?"
+
+"Nay," said the Baron, "what is thine? As for mine host
+here, there came a bird to Brimside and did me to wit that I
+should be like to need a throng if I came thy way; and sooth
+was that.  Come now, tell us what is toward, thou rank
+reiver, though I have an inkling thereof; for if this were a
+mere lifting, thou wouldst not sit still here amidst thy
+friends of Hazeldale."
+
+"Lord," said Jack o' the Tofts, "thou shalt hear mine
+errand, and then give heed to what thou wilt do.  Look to
+the bent under the wood, and tell me, dost thou see the
+blazon of the banner under which be my men?"
+
+"That can I not," said the Lord Gandolf; "but I have seen
+the banner of Oakenrealm, which beareth the wood-woman with
+loins garlanded with oak-leaves, look much like to it at
+such a distance."
+
+Said Jack:  "It is not ill guessed.  Yonder banner is the
+King's banner, and beareth on it the woman of Oakenrealm ."
+
+The Lord bent his brows on him, and said:  "Forsooth, rank
+reiver, I wotted not that thou hadst King Rolf for thy
+guest."
+
+Quoth Jack of the Tofts:  "Forsooth, Lord, no such guest as
+the Earl Marshal Rolf would I have alive in my poor house."
+
+"Well, Jack," said the big Lord, grinning, "arede me the
+riddle, and then we shall see what is to be done, as thou
+sayest."
+
+"Lord," said Jack, "dost thou see this young man standing by
+me?"
+
+"Yea," said the other, "he is big enough that I may see him
+better than thy banner:  if he but make old bones, as is
+scarce like, since he is of thy flock, he shall one day make
+a pretty man; he is a gay rider now.  What else is he?"
+
+Quoth Jack of the Tofts:  "He is my King and thy King, and
+the all-folk's King, and the King of Oakenrealm:  and now,
+hearken mine errand:  it is to make all folk name him King."
+
+Said the Lord:  "This minstrel's tale goes with the song the
+bird sang to me this morning; and therefore am I here
+thronging--to win thy head, rank reiver, and this young
+man's head, since it may not better be, and let the others
+go free for this time. Hah! what sayest thou? and thou,
+youngling? 'Tis but the stroke of a sword, since thou hast
+fallen into my hands, and not into the hangman's or the
+King's."
+
+"Thou must win them first, Lord," said Jack of the Tofts.
+"Therefore, what sayest thou? Where shall we cast down the
+white shield and uprear the red?"
+
+"Hot art thou, head, heart, and hand, rank reiver," said the
+Lord; "bide a while."  So he sat silent a little; then he
+said:  "Thou seest, Jack of the Tofts, that now thou hast
+thrust the torch into the tow; if I go back to King Rolf
+without the heads of you twain, I am like to pay for it with
+mine own.  Therefore hearken.  If we buckle together in
+fight presently, it is most like that I shall come to my
+above, but thou art so wily and stout that it is not unlike
+that thou, and perchance this luckless youngling, may slip
+through my fingers into the wood; and then it will avail me
+little with the King that I have slain a few score nameless
+wolf-heads.  So, look you! here is a fair field hazelled by
+God; let us two use it to-day, and fight to the death here;
+and then if thou win me, smite off my head, and let my men
+fight it out afterwards, as best they may without me, and
+'tis like they will be beaten then.  But if I win thee, then
+I win this youngling withal, and bear back both heads to my
+Lord King, after I have scattered thy wolf-heads and slain
+as many as I will; which shall surely befall, if thou be
+slain first."
+
+Then cried out Jack of the Tofts:  "Hail to thy word,
+stout-heart! this is well offered, and I take it for myself
+and my Lord King here."  And all that stood by and heard
+gave a glad sound with their voices, and their armour
+rattled and rang as man turned to man to praise their
+captains.
+
+But now spake Christopher:  "Lord of Brimside, it is nought
+wondrous though thou set me aside as of no account, whereas
+thou deemest me no king or king's kindred; but thou, Lord
+Earl, who wert once Jack of the Tofts, I marvel at thee,
+that thou hast forgotten thy King so soon.  Ye twain shall
+now wot that this is my quarrel, and that none but I shall
+take this battle upon him.
+
+"Thou servant of Rolf, the traitor and murderer, hearken! I
+say that I am King of Oakenrealm, and the very son of King
+Christopher the Old; and that will I maintain with my body
+against every gainsayer.  Thou Lord of Brimside, wilt thou
+gainsay it? Then I say thou liest, and lo here, my glove!"
+And he cast it down before the Lord.
+
+Again was there good rumour, and that from either side of
+the bystanders; but Jack of the Tofts stood up silent and
+stiff, and the Baron of Brimside laughed, and said:  "Well,
+swain, if thou art weary of life, so let it be, as for me;
+but how sayest thou, Jack of the Tofts? Art thou content to
+give thine head away in this fashion, whereas thou wottest
+that I shall presently slay this king of thine?"
+
+Said Jack:  "The King of Oakenrealm must rule me as well as
+others of his liege-men: he must fight if he will, and be
+slain if he will."  Then suddenly he fell a-laughing, and
+beat his hand on his thigh till the armour rattled again,
+and then he cried out:  "Lord Gandolf, Lord Gandolf, have a
+care, I bid thee! Where wilt thou please to be buried,
+Lord?"
+
+Said the other:  "I wot not what thou wilt mean by thy
+fooling, rank reiver.  But here I take up this youngling's
+glove; and on his head be his fate! Now as to this battle.
+My will is, that we two champions be all alone and afoot on
+the eyot.  How say ye?"
+
+"Even so be it," said Jack; "but I say that half a score on
+each side shall be standing on their own bank to see the
+play, and the rest of the host come no nigher than now we
+are."
+
+"I yea-say it," said the Baron; "and now do thou, rank
+reiver, go back to thy fellowship and tell them what we have
+areded, and do thou, Oliver Marson, do so much for our folk;
+and bid them wot this, that if any of them break the troth,
+he shall lose nought more than his life for that same."
+
+Therewith all went ashore to either bank, save the Baron of
+Brimside and Christopher. And the Baron laid him down on the
+ground and fell to whistling the tune of a merry Yule dance;
+but as for Christopher, he looked on his foeman, and deemed
+he had seldom seen so big and stalwarth a man; and withal he
+was of ripe age, and had seen some forty winters.  Then he
+also cast himself down on the grass, and fell into a kind of
+dream, as he watched a pair of wagtails that came chirping
+up from the sandy spit below the eyot; till suddenly great
+shouting broke out, first from his own bent, and then from
+the foemen's, and Christopher knew that the folk on either
+side had just heard of the battle that was to be on the
+holm.  The Baron arose at the sound and looked to his own
+men, whence were now coming that half-score who were to look
+on the battle from the bank; but Christopher stirred not,
+but lay quietly amongst the flowers of the grass, till he
+heard the splash of horse-hoofs in the ford, and there
+presently was come Jack of the Tofts bearing basnet and
+shield for his lord.  And he got off his horse and spake to
+Christopher:  "If I may not fight for thee, my son and King,
+yet at least it is the right of thine Earl to play the
+squire to thee:  but a word before thy basnet is over thine
+ears; the man yonder is well-nigh a giant for stature and
+strength; yet I think thou mayest deal with him, and be none
+the sorer when thou liest down to-night.  To be short, this
+is it: when thou hast got a stroke in upon him, and he
+falters, then give him no time, but fly at him in thy
+wild-cat manner and show what-like thews thou hast under thy
+smooth skin; now thine helm, lad.  So art thou dight; and
+something tells me thou shalt do it off in victory."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER  XXXI.
+
+THE BATTLE ON THE HOLM.
+
+
+So when Christopher was armed, Jack turned about speedily,
+and so gat him back through the ford and stood there on the
+bank with the nine other folk of the Tofts.  And by this
+time was Gandolf of Brimside armed also, and Oliver Marson,
+who had done his helm on him, was gone to his side of the
+river.
+
+Drew the huge man-at-arms then toward Christopher, but his
+sword was yet in the sheath:  Christopher set his point to
+the earth and abode him; and the Baron spake: "Lad, thou art
+fair and bold both, as I can see it, and Jack of the Tofts
+is so much an old foe of mine that he is well-nigh a friend:
+so what sayest thou? If thou wilt yield thee straightway, I
+will have both thine head and the outlaw's with me to King
+Rolf, but yet on your shoulders and ye two alive.  Haps will
+go as haps will; and it maybe that ye shall both live for
+another battle, and grow wiser, and mayhappen abide in the
+wood with the reiver's men.  Hah? What sayest thou?"
+
+Christopher laughed and said:  "Wouldst thou pardon one who
+is not yet doomed, Baron? And yet thy word is pleasant to
+us; for we see that if we win thee, thou shalt be good
+liegeman of us.  Now, Baron, sword in fist!"
+
+Gandolf drew his sword, muttering:  "Ah, hah! he is lordly
+and kingly enough, yet may this learn him a lesson.  "Indeed
+the blade was huge and brown and ancient, and sword and man
+had looked a very terror save to one great-hearted.
+
+But Christopher said:  "What sayest thou now, Baron, shall
+we cast down our shields to earth? For why should we chop
+into wood and leather?"
+
+The Baron cast down his shield, and said:  "Bold are thy
+words, lad; if thy deeds go with them, it may be better for
+thee than for me.  Now keep thee."
+
+And therewith he leapt forward and swept his huge sword
+around; but Christopher swerved speedily and enough, so that
+the blade touched him not, and the huge man had over-reached
+himself, and ere he had his sword well under sway again,
+Christopher had smitten him so sharply on the shoulder that
+the mails were sundered & the blood ran; and withal the
+Baron staggered with the mere weight of the stroke.  Then
+Christopher saw his time, and leapt aloft and dealt such a
+stroke on the side of his head, that the Baron tottered yet
+more; but now was he taught by those two terrible strokes,
+and he gathered all his heart to him, and all the might of
+his thews, and leapt aback and mastered his sword, and came
+on fierce but wary, shouting out for Brimside and the King.
+
+Christopher cried never a cry, but swung his sword well
+within his sway, and the stroke came on Gandolf's fore-arm
+and brake the mails and wounded him, and then as the Baron
+rushed forward, the wary lad gat his blade under his
+foeman's nigh the hilts, and he gave it a wise twist and
+forth flew the ancient iron away from its master.
+
+Gandolf seemed to heed not that he was swordless, but gave
+out a great roar and rushed at Christopher to close with
+him, and the well-knit lad gave back before him and turned
+from side to side, and kept the sword-point before Gandolf's
+eyes ever, till suddenly, as the Baron was running his
+fiercest, he made a mighty sweep at his right leg, since he
+had no more to fear his sword, and the edge fell so strong
+and true, that but for the byrny-hose he had smitten the
+limb asunder, and even as it was it made him agrievous
+wound, so that the Lord of Brimside fell clattering to the
+earth, and Christopher bestrode him and cried:  "How sayest
+thou, champion, is it enough?"
+
+"Yea, enough, and maybe more," said the Baron.  "Wilt thou
+smite off mine head? Or what wilt thou?"
+
+Said Christopher:  "Here hath been enough smiting,
+meseemeth, save thy lads and ours have a mind to buckle to;
+and lo thou! men are running down from the bents towards us
+from both sides, yet not in any warlike manner as yet.  Now,
+Baron, here cometh thy grim squire that I heard called
+Oliver, and if thou wilt keep the troth, thou shalt bid him
+order thy men so that they fall not upon us till the battle
+be duly pitched.  Then shalt thou be borne home, since thou
+canst not go, with no hindrance from us."
+
+Now was Oliver come indeed, and the other nine with him, and
+on the other side was come Jack of the Tofts and four
+others.
+
+Then spake the Baron of Brimside:  "I may do better than
+thou biddest me; for now I verily trow herein, that thou art
+the son of Christopher the Old; so valiant as thou art, and
+so sad a smiter, and withal that thou fearest not to let thy
+foeman live.  So hearken all ye, and thou specially, Oliver
+Marson, my captain:  I am now become the man of my lord King
+Christopher, and will follow him whereso he will; and I deem
+that will presently be to Oakenham, and the King's seat
+there.  Now look to it that thou, Oliver, order my men under
+King Christopher's banner, till I be healed; and then if all
+be not over, I shall come forth myself, shield on neck and
+spear in fist, to do battle for my liege lord; so help me
+God and St. James of the Water!"
+
+Therewith speech failed him and his wit therewith; so
+betwixt them they unarmed him and did him what leechdom they
+might do there and then; and he was nowise hurt deadly:  as
+for Child Christopher, he had no scratch of steel on him.
+And Oliver knelt before him when he had dight his own lord,
+and swore fealty to him then and there; and so departed, to
+order the folk of Brimside and tell them the tidings, and
+swear them liege men of King Christopher.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+OF GOLDILIND AND CHRISTOPHER.
+
+
+Now Jack of the Tofts said a word to one of his men, and he
+rode straightway up into the field under the wood, and spake
+to three of the captains of the folk, and they ranked a
+hundred of the men, of those who were best dight, and
+upraised amongst them the banner of Oakenrealm, and led all
+them down to the river bank; and with these must needs go
+Goldilind; and when they came down thither, Christopher and
+Jack were there on the bank to hail them, and they raised a
+great shout when they saw their King and their Earl standing
+there, and the shout was given back from the wood-side; and
+then the men of Brimside took it up, for they had heard the
+bidding of their Lord, and he was now in a pavilion which
+they had raised for him on the mead, and the leeches were
+looking to his hurts; and they feared him, but rather loved
+than hated him, and he was more to them than the King in
+Oakenrealm and they were all ready to do his will.
+
+But as to Goldilind, her mind it had been, as she was going
+down the meadow, that she would throw herself upon
+Christopher's bosom and love him with glad tears of love;
+but as she came and stood over against him, she was abashed,
+and stood still looking on him, and spake no word; and he
+also was ashamed before all that folk to say the words
+whereof his heart was full, and longed for the night, that
+they might be alone together.
+
+But at last he said:  "Lady and Queen, thou seest that we be
+well-beloved that they rejoice so much in a little deed of
+mine."  And still she spake nought, and held hand in hand.
+
+But Jack of the Tofts spake and said:  "By St. Hubert! the
+deed may be little, though there be men who would think no
+little of overcoming the biggest man and the fellest fighter
+of Oakenrealm, but at least great things shall come thereof.
+King, thy strokes of this day have won thee Oakenrealm, or
+no man I know in field, and many a mother's son have they
+saved from death.  For look thou yonder over the river,
+Goldilind, my Lady, and tell me what thou seest."  She
+turned to him and said:  "Lord Earl, I see warriors a many."
+
+"Yea," said Jack, "and stout fellows be they for the more
+part; and hard had been the hand-play had we met, ere they
+had turned their backs; but now, see thou, we shall wend
+side by side toward Oakenrealm, for our Lord there hath won
+them to his friends; and doubt thou not that when they see
+him and thee anigh, they shall be friends indeed. What! dost
+thou weep for this? Or is it because he hath done the deed
+and not thou? or rather, because thine heart is full for the
+love of him?"
+
+She smiled kindly on Jack, but even therewith she felt two
+hands laid on her shoulders, and Christopher kissed her
+without any word.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+A COUNCIL OF CAPTAINS:  THE HOST COMES TO BROADLEES, AND
+MAKES FOR WOODWALL.
+
+
+That night, though there was some little coming and going
+between the Tofters and the Brimsiders, yet either flock
+slept on their own side of the river.  Moreover, before the
+midst of the night, cometh David to the wood-side, and had
+with him all men defensible of the Tofts and the houses
+thereabout, and most of the women also many of whom bore
+spear or bow, so that now by the wood-side, what with them
+of the Tofts and the folk who joined them thereto from the
+country-side about Hazeldale, there were well-nigh ten
+hundreds of folk under weapons; and yet more came in the
+night through; for the tidings of the allegiance of Brimside
+was spreading full fast.
+
+Betimes on the morrow was King Christopher afoot, and he and
+Jack and David and Gilbert, and they twelve in company, went
+down to the banner by the water-side; and to them presently
+came Oliver Marson and ten other of the captains of
+Brimside, and did them to wit that the Baron were fain if
+they would come to his pavilion and hold counsel therein,
+for that he was not so sick but he might well speak his mind
+from where he lay. So thither they went all, with good will,
+and the Baron greeted them friendly, and made what reverence
+he might to Christopher, and bade him say what was his mind
+and his will.  But Christopher bade them who were his elders
+in battle to speak; and the Baron laughed outright and said:
+"Meseemeth, Lord King, thou didst grow old yesterday at my
+costs; but since thou wilt have me to speak, I will even do
+so.  And to make matters the shorter, I will say that I wot
+well what ye have to do; and that is, to fall upon the Earl
+Marshal's folk ere they fall upon us.  Now some folk deem we
+should fare to Brimside and have a hosting there; but I say
+nay; whereas it lieth out of the road to Oakenham, and
+thereby is our road, meseemeth; and it is but some six days'
+riding hence, save, as is most like, two of those days be
+days of battle But if we go straight forward with banners
+displayed, each day's faring shall be a day of hosting and
+gathering; for I tell thee, Lord King, the fame of thee has
+by now gone far in this country-side.  Wherefore I say no
+more, since I wax weary, than this:  to the road this
+morning, and get we so far as Broadlees ere night-fall, for
+there we shall get both victual and folk."
+
+There was good cheer made at his word, so Christopher spake:
+"Baron of Brimside, thou hast spoken my very mind and will;
+and but if these lords and captains gainsay it, let us tarry
+no longer, but array all our folk in good order and take
+tale of them, and so for Broadlees.  What say ye, lords?"
+
+None nay-said it, so there was no more talk save as to the
+ordering of this or the other company.  And it was so areded
+that the Brimside men should fare first at the head of the
+host with the banner of Brimside, and that then should go
+the mingled folk of the country-side, and lastly the folk of
+the Tofts with the banner of Oakenrealm; so that if the host
+came upon foemen, they might be for a cloud to hide the
+intent of their battles awhile till they might take their
+advantage.
+
+So went the captains to their companies, and the Tofters and
+their mates crossed the river to the men of Brimside, who
+gave them good cheer when they came amongst them; and it was
+hard to order the host for a while, so did the upland folk
+throng about the King and the Queen; and happy were they who
+had a full look on Goldilind; and yet were some so lucky and
+so bold that they kissed a hand of her; and one there was, a
+very tall young man, and a goodly, who stood there and
+craved to kiss her cheek, and she did not gainsay him, and
+thereafter nought was good to him save an occasion to die
+for her.
+
+As for Christopher, he spake to many, and said to them that
+wheresoever his banner was, he at least should be at the
+forefront whenso they came upon unpeace; and so soon as they
+gat to the road, he went from company to company, speaking
+to many, and that so sweetly and friendly that all praised
+him, and said that here forsooth was a king who was all good
+and nothing bad, whereas hitherto men had deemed them lucky
+indeed if their king were half good and half bad.
+
+Merry then was the road to Broadlees, and they came there
+before night-fall; and it was a little cheaping town and
+unwalled, and if the folk had had any will to ward them,
+they lacked might.  But when they found they were not to be
+robbed, and that it was but the proclaiming of King
+Christopher in the market-place, and finding victual and
+house-room for the host, and the Mayor taking a paper in
+payment thereof, none stirred against them, and a many
+joined the host to fight for the fair young King.  Now
+nought as yet had they heard at Broadlees of any force
+stirring against them.
+
+But in the morning when they went on their ways again, and
+were bound for Cheaping Woodwall, which was a fenced town,
+they sent out well-horsed riders to espy the road, who came
+back on the spur two hours after noon, and did them to wit
+that there was a host abiding them beneath the walls of
+Woodwall under the banner of Walter the White, an old
+warrior and fell fighter; but what comfort he might have
+from them of Woodwall they wotted not; but they said that
+the tidings of their coming had gone abroad, and many folk
+were abiding the issue of this battle ere they joined them
+to either host.  Now on these tidings the captains were of
+one mind, to wit, to fare on softly till they came to a
+defensible place not far from the foemen, since they could
+scarce come to Woodwall in good order before nightfall, and
+if they were unfoughten before, to push forward to battle in
+the morning.
+
+Even so did they, and made a halt at sunset on a pleasant
+hill above a river some three miles from Woodwall, and there
+they passed the night unmeddled with.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+BATTLE BEFORE WOODWALL.
+
+
+When morning was, the captains came to King Christopher to
+council:  but while they were amidst of their talk came the
+word that the foe was anigh and come close to the
+river-bank; whereat was none abashed; but to all it seemed
+wisdom to abide them on the vantage-ground.  So then there
+was girding of swords and doing on of helms; as for ordering
+of the folk, it was already done, for all the host was
+ranked on the bent-side, with the banner of Oakenrealm in
+the midst; on its left hand the banner of the Tofts, and on
+the right the banner of Brimside.
+
+Now when Christopher was come to his place, he looked down
+and saw how the foemen were pouring over the river, for it
+was nowhere deep, and there were four quite shallow fords:
+many more were they than his folk, but he deemed that they
+fared somewhat tumultuously; and when the bowmen of the
+Tofts began shooting, the foemen, a many of them, stayed
+amidst of the river to bend bow in their turn, and seemed to
+think that were nigh enough already; nay, some went back
+again to the other bank, to shoot thence the surer and the
+drier, and some went yet a little further back on the field.
+So that when their sergeants and riders were come on to the
+hither bank, they lacked about a fifth of all their host;
+and they themselves, for all they were so many, had some ado
+to make up their minds to go forward.
+
+Forsooth, when they looked up to the bent and saw the three
+banners of Oakenrealm and the Tofts and Brimside all waving
+over the same ranks, they knew not what to make of it.  And
+Christopher's host, when they saw them hang back, brake out
+into mocking whoops and shouts, and words were heard in
+them:  "Come and dine at Brimside, good fellows! Come up to
+the Tofts for supper and bed! A Christopher! A Christopher!"
+and so forth.  Now all King Christopher's men were afoot,
+saving a band of the riders of Brimside, who bestrode strong
+and tall horses, and bore jack and sallet and spear, but no
+heavy armour.
+
+So Christopher heard and saw, and the heart rose high in
+him, and he sent messengers to the right and the left, and
+bade the captains watch till he waved his sword aloft, and
+then all down the bent together; and he bade the Brimside
+riders edge a little outward and downward, and be ready for
+the chase, and suffer not any of the foemen to gather
+together when once they fell to running; for he knew in his
+heart that the folk before him would never abide their
+onfall.  And the day was yet young, and it lacked four hours
+of noon.
+
+King Christopher abode ill he saw the foemen were come off
+the level ground, and were mounting the bent slowly, and not
+in very good order or in ranks closely serried.  Then he
+strode forth three paces, and waved his sword high above his
+head, and cried out:  "A Christopher! A Christopher!
+Forward, banner of the Realm!" And forth he went, steady and
+strong, and a great shout arose behind him, and none shrank
+or lagged, but spears and bills, and axes and swords, all
+came on like a wall of steel, so that to the foemen the
+earth seemed alive with death, and they made no show of
+abiding the onset, but all turned and ran, save Walter the
+White and a score of his knights, who forsooth were borne
+down in a trice, and were taken to mercy, those of them who
+were not slain at the first crash of weapons.
+
+There then ye might have seen great clumps of men making no
+defence, but casting down their weapons and crying mercy;
+and forsooth so great was the throng, that no great many
+were slain; but on the other hand, but few gat away across
+the water, and on them presently fell the Brimside riders,
+and hewed down and slew and took few to mercy.  And some few
+besides the first laggards of the bowmen, it might be three
+hundreds in all, escaped, and gat to Woodwall, but when they
+of the town saw them, they made up their minds speedily, and
+shut their gates, and the poor fleers found but the points
+of shafts and the heads of quarrels before them.
+
+But on the field of deed those captives were somewhat
+fearful as to what should be done with them, and they spake
+one to the other about it, that they would be willing to
+serve the new King, since he was so mighty.  And amidst of
+their talk came the captains of King Christopher, and they
+drew into a ring around them, and the lords bade them look
+to it whether they would be the foemen of the King, the son
+of that King Christopher the Old.  "If so ye be," said they,
+"ye may escape this time; but ye see how valiant a man he
+is, and how lucky withal, and happy shall they be whom he
+calleth friends.  Now what say ye, will ye take up your
+weapons again, and be under the best of kings and a true
+one, or will ye depart and take the chance of his wrath in
+the coming days? We say, how many of you will serve King
+Christopher.
+
+Then arose from them a mighty shout:  "All! All! One and
+All!" Albeit some there were who slunk away and said nought;
+and none heeded them.
+
+So then all the sergeants and the common folk swore
+allegiance to King Christopher; but of the knights who were
+left alive, some said Yea, and some Nay; and these last were
+suffered to depart, but must needs ride unarmed.
+
+Now by the time all was done, and the new men had dined
+along with the rest of the host, and of the new-comers tale
+had been taken, the day was wearing; so they set off for
+Woodwall, and on the way they met the Mayor and Aldermen
+thereof, who came before King Christopher and knelt to him,
+and gave him the keys of their town; so he was gracious to
+them, and thanked them, and bade see to the victual and
+lodging of the host, and that all should be paid thereafter.
+And they said that they had seen to all this before they
+came forth of the town, and that if the Lord King would ride
+forth, he would find fair lodging in the good town.  So King
+Christopher was pleased, and bade the burgesses ride beside
+him, and he talked merrily with them on the way, so that
+their hearts rejoiced over the kindness of their lord.
+
+So they came to the gate, and there the King made stay till
+Goldilind was fetched to him, so that they might ride into
+the good town side by side.  And in the street was much
+people thronging, and the sun was scarce set, so that the
+folk could see their King and Queen what they were; and they
+who were nighest unto them, they let their shouts die out,
+so were their hearts touched with the sight of them and the
+love of their beauty.
+
+Thus rode they in triumph through the street till they were
+come to their lodging, which was great and goodly as for a
+cheaping town; and so the day was gone and the night was
+come, and the council and the banquet were over; then were
+the King and Goldilind together again, like any up-country
+lad and lass.  But she stood before him and said:  "O thou
+King and mighty warrior, surely I ought to fear thee now,
+but it is not so, so sore as I desire thee; but yet it
+maketh both laughter and tears come to me when I think of
+the day we rode away from Greenharbour with thee, and I
+seemed to myself a great lady, though I were unhappy; and
+though I loved thy body, I feared lest the churl's blood in
+thee might shame me perchance, and I was proud and unkind to
+thee, and I hurt thee sorely; and now I will say it, and
+confess, that somewhat I joyed to see thine anguish, for I
+knew that it meant thy love for me and thy desire to me.  Lo
+now, wilt thou forgive me this, or wilt thou punish me, O
+Lord King?"
+
+He laughed.  "Sweetling," he said, "meseemeth now all day
+long I have been fighting against raiment rather than men;
+no man withstood me in the battle, for that they feared the
+crown on my helm and the banner over my head; and when those
+good men of the town brought me the keys, how should I have
+known them from borrel folk but for their scarlet gowns and
+fur hoods? And meseemed that when they knelt to me, it was
+the scarlet gowns kneeling to the kingly armour.  Therefore,
+sweetheart, if thou fearest that the King should punish thee
+for so wounding the poor Christopher of those few days ago,
+as belike thou deservest it, bid the King do off his
+raiment, and do thou in likewise, and then there shall be no
+King to punish, and no King's scather to thole the
+punishment, but only Christopher and Goldilind, even as they
+met erewhile on the dewy grass of Littledale."
+
+She blushed blood-red; but ere his words were done, her
+hands were busy with girdle and clasp, and her raiment fell
+from her to the earth, and his kingly raiment was cast from
+him, and he took her by the hand and led her to the bed of
+honour, that their love might have increase that night also.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE AND AN EVIL DEED.
+
+
+When morning was, and it was yet early, the town was all
+astir and the gates were thrown open, and weaponed men
+thronged into it crying out for Christopher the King. Then
+the King came forth, and Jack o' the Tofts and his sons, and
+Oliver Marson, and the captains of Brimside; and the host
+was blown together to the market-place, and there was a new
+tale of them taken, and they were now hard on seventy
+hundreds of men.  So then were new captains appointed, and
+thereafter they tarried not save to eat a morsel, but went
+out a-gates faring after the banners to Oakenrealm, all folk
+blessing them as they went.
+
+Nought befell them of evil that day, but ever fresh
+companies joined them on the road; and they gat harbour in
+another walled town, hight Sevenham, and rested there in
+peace that night, and were now grown to eighty hundreds.
+
+Again on the morrow they were on the road betimes, and again
+much folk joined them, and they heard no tidings of any
+foeman faring against them; whereat Jack o' the Tofts
+marvelled, for he and others had deemed that now at last
+would Rolf the traitor come out against them.  Forsooth,
+when they had gone all day and night was at hand, it seemed
+most like to the captains that he would fall upon them that
+night, whereas they were now in a somewhat perilous pass;
+for they must needs rest at a little thorpe amidst of great
+and thick woods, which lay all round about the frank of
+Oakenham as a garland about a head.  So there they kept
+watch and ward more heedfully than their wont was; and King
+Christopher lodged with Goldilind at the house of a good man
+of the thorpe.
+
+Now when it lacked but half an hour of midnight, and Jack o'
+the Tofts and Oliver Marson and the Captain of Woodwall had
+just left him, after they had settled the order of the next
+day's journey, and Goldilind lay abed in the inner chamber,
+there entered one of the men of the watch and said:  "Lord
+King, here is a man hereby who would see thee; he is
+weaponed, and he saith that he hath a gift for thee:  what
+shall we do with him?"
+
+Said Christopher:  "Bring him in hither, good fellow."  And
+the man went back, and came in again leading a tall man,
+armed, but with a hood done over his steel hat, so that his
+face was hidden, and he had a bag in his hand with something
+therein.
+
+Then spake the King and said:  "Thou man, since thy face is
+hidden, this trusty man-at-arms shall stand by thee while
+we talk together."
+
+"Lord," said the man, "let there be a dozen to hear our talk
+I care not; for I tell thee that I come to give thee a gift,
+and gift-bearers are oftenest welcome."
+
+Quoth the King:  "Maybe, yet before thou bring it forth I
+would see thy face, for meseems I have an inkling of thy
+voice."
+
+So the man cast back his hood, and lo, it was Simon the
+squire.  "Hah!" said Christopher, "is it thou then! hast
+thou another knife to give me?"
+
+"Nay," said Simon, "only the work of the knife."  And
+therewith he set his hand to the bag and drew out by the
+hair a man's head, newly hacked off and bleeding, and said:
+"Hast thou seen him before, Lord? He was a great man
+yesterday, though not so great as thou shalt be to-morrow."
+
+"Once only I have seen him, "said Christopher," and then he
+gave me this gift" (and he showed his father's ring on his
+finger):  "thou hast slain the Earl Marshal, who called
+himself the King of Oakenrealm:  my traitor and dastard he
+was but thy friend. Wherefore have I two evil deeds to
+reward thee, Simon, the wounding of me and the slaying of
+him.  Dost thou not deem thee gallows-ripe?"
+
+"King," said Simon, "what wouldst thou have done with him
+hadst thou caught him?"
+
+Said Christopher:  "I had slain him had I met him with a
+weapon in his fist; and if we had taken him I had let the
+folk judge him."
+
+Said Simon:  "That is to say, that either thou hadst slain
+him thyself, or bidden others to slay him.  Now then I ask
+thee, King, for which deed wilt thou slay me, for not
+slaying thee, or for doing thy work and slaying thy foe?"
+
+Said Christopher to the guard:  "Good fellow, fetch here a
+good horse ready saddled and bridled, and be speedy."
+
+So the man went:  and Christopher said to Simon:  "For the
+knife in my side, I forgive it thee; and as to the slaying
+of thy friend, it is not for me to take up the feud.  But
+this is no place for thee:  if Jack of the Tofts, or any of
+his sons, or one of the captains findeth thee, soon art thou
+sped; wherefore I rede thee, when yonder lad hath brought
+thee the horse, show me the breadth of thy back, and mount
+the beast, and put the most miles thou canst betwixt me and
+my folk; for they love me."
+
+Said Simon:  "Sorry payment for making thee a king!"
+
+Said Christopher:  "Well, thou art in the right; I may well
+give gold for getting rid of such as thou."  And he put his
+hand into a pouch that hung on his chair, and drew out
+thence a purse, and gave it unto Simon, who took it and
+opened it and looked therein, and then flung it down on the
+ground.
+
+Christopher looked on him wrathfully with reddened face, and
+cried out:  "Thou dog! wouldst thou be an earl and rule the
+folk? What more dost thou want?"
+
+"This!" cried out Simon, and leapt upon him, knife aloft.
+Christopher was unarmed utterly; but he caught hold of the
+felon's right arm with his right hand, and gripped the wrist
+till he shrieked; then he raised up his mighty left hand,
+and drave it down on Simon's head by the ear, and all gave
+way before it, and the murderer fell crushed and dead to
+earth.
+
+Therewith came in the man-at-arms to tell him that the horse
+was come; but stared wild when he saw the dead man on the
+ground.  But Christopher said:  "My lad, here hath been one
+who would have thrust a knife into an unarmed man, wherefore
+I must needs give him his wages.  But now thou hast this to
+do:  take thou this dead man and bind him so fast on the
+horse thou hast brought that he will not come off till the
+bindings be undone; and bind withal the head of this other,
+who was once a great man and an evil, before the slayer of
+him, so that it also may be fast; then get thee to horse and
+lead this beast and its burden till ye are well on the
+highway to Oakenham, and then let him go and find his way to
+the gate of the city if God will.  And hearken, my lad;
+seest thou this gold which lieth scattering on the floor
+here? this was mine, but is no longer, since I have given it
+away to the dead man just before he lifted his hand against
+me.  Wherefore now I will keep it for thee against thou
+comest back safe to me in the morning betimes, as I deem
+thou wilt, if thou wilt behight to St. Julian the helping of
+some poor body on the road.  Go therefore, but send hither
+the guard; for I am weary now, and would go to sleep without
+slaying any man else."
+
+So departed the man full of joy, and Christopher gathered
+his money together again, and so fared to his bed
+peacefully.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+KING CHRISTOPHER COMES TO OAKENHAM.
+
+
+But on the morrow the first man who came to the King was the
+man-at-arms aforesaid; and he told that he had done the
+King's errand, and ridden a five miles on the road to
+Oakenham before he had left the horse with his felon load,
+and that he had found nought stirring all that way when he
+had passed through their own out-guards, where folk knew him
+and let him go freely.  "And," quoth he, "it is like enough
+that this gift to Oakenham, Lord King, has by now come to
+the gate thereof."  Then the King gave that man the gold
+which he had promised, and he kissed the King's hand and
+went his ways a happy man.
+
+Thereafter sent Christopher for Jack of the Tofts, and told
+him in few words what had betid, and that Rolf the traitor
+was dead.  Then spake Jack:  "King and fosterling, never
+hath so mighty a warrior as thou waged so easy a war for so
+goodly a kingdom as thou hast done; for surely thy war was
+ended last night, wherefore will we straight to Oakenham, if
+so thou wilt.  But if it be thy pleasure I will send a
+chosen band of riders to wend on the spur thereto, and bid
+them get ready thy kingly house, and give word to the Barons
+and the Prelates, and the chiefs of the Knighthood, and the
+Mayor and the Aldermen, and the Masters of the Crafts, to
+show themselves of what mind they be towards thee.  But I
+doubt it not that they will deem of thee as thy father come
+back again and grown young once more."
+
+Now was Christopher eager well nigh unto weeping to behold
+his people that he should live amongst, and gladly he
+yea-said the word of Jack of the Tofts.  So were those
+riders sent forward; and the host was ordered, and
+Christopher rode amidst it with Goldilind by his side; and
+the sun was not yet gone down when they came within sight of
+the gate of Oakenham, and there before the gate and in the
+fields on either side of it was gathered a very great and
+goodly throng, and there went forth from it to meet the King
+the Bishop of Oakenham, and the Abbot of St.  Mary's and the
+Priors of the other houses of religion, all fairly clad in
+broidered copes, with the clerks and the monks dight full
+solemnly; and they came singing to meet him, and the Bishop
+blessed him and gave him the hallowed bread, and the King
+greeted him and craved his prayers.  Then came the Burgreve
+of Oakenham, and with him the Barons and the Knights, and
+they knelt before him, and named him to king, and the
+Burgreve gave him the keys of the city.  Thereafter came the
+Mayor and the Aldermen, and the Masters of the Crafts, and
+they craved his favour, and warding of his mighty sword; and
+all these he greeted kindly and meekly, rather as a friend
+than as a great lord.
+
+Thereafter were the gates opened, and King Christopher
+entered, and there was no gainsaying, and none spake a word
+of the Traitor Rolf.
+
+But the bells of the minster and of all the churches rang
+merrily, and songs were sung sweetly by fair women
+gloriously clad; and whereas King Christopher and Queen
+Goldilind had lighted down from their horses and went afoot
+through the street, roses and all kinds of sweet flowers
+were cast down before the feet of them all the way from the
+city gate to the King's High House of Oakenham.
+
+There then in the great hall of his father's house stood
+Christopher the King on the dais, and Goldilind beside him.
+And Jack of the Tofts and the chiefest of the Captains, and
+the Bishop, and the greatest lords of the Barons, and the
+doughtiest of the Knights, and the Mayor and the Aldermen,
+and the Masters of the Crafts, sat at the banquet with the
+King and his mate; they brake bread together and drank cups
+of renown, till the voidee cup was borne in.  Then at last
+were the King & the Queen brought to their chamber with
+string-play and songs and all kinds of triumph; and that
+first night since he lay in his mother's womb did Child
+Christopher fall asleep in the house which the fathers had
+builded for him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+OF CHILD CHRISTOPHER'S DEALINGS WITH HIS FRIENDS & HIS FOLK.
+
+
+It was in the morning when King Christopher arose, and
+Goldilind stood before him in the kingly chamber, that he
+clipped her and kissed her, and said:  "This is the very
+chamber whence my father departed when he went to his last
+battle, and left my mother sickening with the coming birth
+of me.  And never came he back hither, nor did mine eyes
+behold him ever.  Here also lay my mother and gave birth to
+me, and died of sorrow, and her also I never saw, save with
+eyes that noted nought that I might remember.  And my third
+kinsman was the traitor, that cast me forth of mine
+heritage, and looked to it that I should wax up as a churl,
+and lose all hope of high deeds; and at the last he strove
+to slay me.
+
+"Therefore, sweet, have I no kindred, and none that are
+bound to cherish me, and it is for thee to take the place of
+them, and be unto me both father and mother, and brother and
+sister, and all kindred."
+
+She said:  "My mother I never saw, and I was but little when
+my father died; and if I had any kindred thereafter they
+loved me not well enough to strike one stroke for me, nay,
+or to speak a word even, when I was thrust out of my place
+and delivered over to the hands of pitiless people, and my
+captivity worsened on me as the years grew.  Wherefore to me
+also art thou in the stead of all kindred and affinity."
+
+Now Christopher took counsel with Jack of the Tofts and the
+great men of the kingdom, and that same day, the first day
+of his kingship in Oakenham, was summoned a great mote of
+the whole folk; and in half a month was it holden, and
+thereat was Christopher taken to king with none gainsaying.
+
+Began now fair life for the people of Oakenrealm; for Jack
+of the Tofts abode about the King in Oakenham; and wise was
+his counsel, and there was no greed in him, and yet he
+wotted of greed and guile in others, and warned the King
+thereof when he saw it, and the tyrants were brought low,
+and no poor and simple man had need to thieve.  As for
+Christopher, he loved better to give than to take; and the
+grief and sorrow of folk irked him sorely; it was to him as
+if he had gotten a wound when he saw so much as one unhappy
+face in a day; and all folk loved him, and the fame of him
+went abroad through the lands and the roads of travel, so
+that many were the wise and valiant folk that left their own
+land and came into Oakenrealm to dwell there, because of the
+good peace and the kindliness that there did abound; so that
+Oakenrealm became both many-peopled and joyous.
+
+Though Jack of the Tofts abode with the King at Oakenham,
+his sons went back to the Tofts, and Gilbert was deemed the
+head man of them; folk gathered to them there, and the
+wilderness about them became builded in many places, and the
+Tofts grew into a goodly cheaping town, for those brethren
+looked to it that all roads in the woodland should be safe
+and at peace, so that no chapman need to arm him or his
+folk; nay, a maiden might go to and fro on the woodland
+ways, with a golden girdle about her, without so much as the
+crumpling of a lap of her gown unless by her own will.
+
+As to David, at first Christopher bade him strongly to abide
+with him ever, for he loved him much.  But David nay-said
+it, and would go home to the Tofts; and when the King
+pressed him sore, at last he said:  "Friend and fellow, I
+must now tell thee the very sooth, and then shalt thou
+suffer me to depart, though the sundering be but sorrow to
+me.  For this it is, that I love thy Lady and wife more than
+meet is, and here I find it hard to thole my desire and my
+grief; but down in the thicket yonder amongst my brethren of
+the woods, and man and maid, and wife and babe, nay, the
+very deer of the forest, I shall become a man again, and be
+no more a peevish and grudging fool; and as the years wear,
+shall sorrow wear, and then, who knows but we may come
+together again."
+
+Then Christopher smiled kindly on him and embraced him, but
+they spake no more of that matter, but sat talking a while,
+and then bade each other farewell, and David went his ways
+to the Tofts.  But a few months thereafter, when a son had
+been born to Christopher, David came to Oakenrealm, but
+stayed there no longer than to greet the King, and do him to
+wit that he was boun for over-sea to seek adventure.  Many
+gifts the King gave him, and they sundered in all
+loving-kindness, and the King said:  "Farewell, friend, I
+shall remember thee and thy kindness for ever."  But David
+said:  "By the roof in Littledale and by the hearth thereof,
+thou shalt be ever in my mind."
+
+Thus they parted for that time; but five and twenty years
+afterwards, when Child Christopher was in his most might and
+majesty, and Goldilind was yet alive and lovely, and sons
+and daughters sat about their board, it was the Yule feast
+in the King's Hall at Oakenham, and there came a man into
+the hall that none knew, big of stature, grey-eyed and
+hollow-cheeked, with red hair grizzled, and worn with the
+helm; a weaponed man, chieftain-like and warrior-like.  And
+when the serving-men asked him of his name, and whence and
+whither, he said:  "I have come from over-seas to look upon
+the King, and when he seeth me he will know my name."  Then
+he put them all aside and would not be gainsaid, but strode
+up the hall to the high-seat, and stood before the King and
+said: "Hail, little King Christopher! Hail, stout babe of
+the woodland!"
+
+Then the King looked on him and knew him at once, and stood
+up at once with a glad cry, and came round unto him, and
+took his arms about him and kissed him, and led him into the
+high-seat, and set him betwixt him and Goldilind, and she
+also greeted him and took him by the hand and kissed him;
+and Jack of the Tofts, now a very old man, but yet hale and
+stark, who sat on the left hand of the King, leaned toward
+him and kissed him and blessed him; for lo! it was David of
+the Tofts.
+
+Spake he now and said:  "Christopher, this is now a happy
+day!"
+
+Said the King:  "David, whither away hence, and what is
+thine heart set upon?"
+
+"On the renewal of our youth," said David, "and the abiding
+with thee.  By my will no further will I go than this thine
+house.  How sayest thou?"
+
+"As thou dost," said Christopher, "that this is indeed a
+happy day; drink out of my cup now, to our abiding together,
+and the end of sundering till the last cometh."
+
+So they drank together, they two, and were happy amidst the
+folk of the hall; and at last the King stood up and spake
+aloud, and did all to wit that this was his friend and
+fellow of the old days; and he told of his doughty deeds,
+whereof he had heard many a tale, and treasured them in his
+heart while they were apart, and he bade men honour him, all
+such as would be his friends.  And all men rejoiced at the
+coming of this doughty man and the friend of the King.
+
+So there abode David, holden in all honour, and in great
+love of Child Christopher and Goldilind; and when his father
+died, his earldom did the King give to David his friend, who
+never sundered from him again, but was with him in peace and
+in war, in joy and in sorrow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER  XXXVIII.
+
+OF MATTERS OF MEADHAM.
+
+
+GOES the tale back now to the time when the kingship of
+Child Christopher was scarce more than one month old; and
+tells that as the King sat with his Queen in the cool of his
+garden on a morning of August, there came to him a swain of
+service, who did him to wit that an outland lord was come,
+and would see him and give him a message.
+
+So the King bade bring him in to the garden to him
+straight-way; so the man went, and came back again leading
+in a knight somewhat stricken in years, on whose green
+surcoat was beaten a golden lion.
+
+He came to those twain and did obeisance to them, but spake,
+as it seemed, to Goldilind alone:  "Lady, and Queen of
+Meadham," said he, "it is unto thee, first of all, that mine
+errand is."
+
+Then she spoke and said:  "Welcome to thee, Sir Castellan of
+Greenharbour, we shall hear thy words gladly."
+
+Said the new-comer:  "Lady, I am no longer the Burgreve of
+Greenharbour, but Sir Guisebert, lord of the Green March,
+and thy true servant and a suitor for thy grace and pardon."
+
+"I pardon thee not, but thank thee for what thou didst of
+good to me," said Goldilind, "and I think that now thine
+errand shall be friendly."
+
+Then turned the Green Knight to the King, and he said:
+"Have I thy leave to speak, Lord King?" and he smiled
+covertly.
+
+But Christopher looked on the face and coat-armour of him,
+and called him to mind as the man who had stood betwixt him
+and present death that morning in the porch of the
+Littledale house; so he looked on him friendly, and said:
+"My leave thou hast, Sir Knight, to speak fully and freely,
+and that the more as meseemeth I saw thee first when thou
+hadst weaponed men at thy back, and wert turning their
+staves away from my breast."
+
+"Even so it is, Lord King," said the Knight; "and to say
+sooth, I fear thee less for thy kingship, than because I wot
+well that thou mayst lightly take me up by the small of my
+back and cast me over thy shoulder if thou have a mind
+therefor."
+
+Christopher laughed at his word, and bade him sit down upon
+the green grass and tell his errand straightway; and the
+Knight tarried not, but spake out:  "Queen of Meadham, I am
+a friend and fellow, and in some sort a servant, to Earl
+Geoffrey, Regent of Meadham, whom thou knowest; and he hath
+put a word in my mouth which is both short and easy for me
+to tell.  All goes awry in Meadham now, and men are arming
+against each other, and will presently be warring, but if
+thou look to it; because all this is for lack of thee.  But
+if thou wilt vouchsafe to come to Meadhamstead, and sit on
+thy throne for a little while, commanding and forbidding;
+and if thou wilt appoint one of the lords for thine Earl
+there, and others for thy captains, and governors and
+burgreves and so forth; then if the people see thee and hear
+thee, the swords will go into their sheaths, and the spears
+will hang on the wall again, and we shall have peace in
+Meadham, for all will do thy bidding.  Wherefore, Lady and
+Queen, I beseech thee to come to us, and stave off the riot
+and ruin.  What sayest thou?"
+
+Goldilind made answer in a while:  "Sir Guisebert, true it
+is that I long to see my people, and to look once more on my
+father's house, and the place where he was born and died.
+But how know I but this is some wile of Earl Geoffrey, for
+he hath not been abounding in trustiness toward us?"
+
+But Sir Guisebert swore on his salvation that there was no
+guile therein, and they were undone save Goldilind came unto
+them.  Then spake Christopher:  "Sir Knight, I am willing to
+pleasure my Lady, who, as I can see, longeth to behold her
+own land and people; and also by thy voice and thy face I
+deem that thou art not lying unto me, and that no harm will
+befall the Lady; yet will I ask thee right out what thou and
+thy lord would think thereof if she come into Meadham
+accompanied; to wit, if I rode with her, and had five
+hundreds of good riders at my back, would ye have guesting
+for so many and such stark lads?"
+
+The Knight took up the word eagerly, and said:  "Wilt thou
+but come, dearlord, and bring a thousand or more, then the
+surer and the safer it would be for us."
+
+Said the King, smiling:  "Well, it shall be thought on; and
+meantime be thou merry with us; for indeed I deem of thee,
+that but for thy helping my life had been cast away that
+morning in Littledale."
+
+So they made much of the Meadham man for three days, and
+thereafter they rode into Meadham and to Meadhamstead,
+Christopher, and Jack of the Tofts, and Goldilind, in all
+honour and triumph, they and seven hundreds of spears, and
+never were lords received with such joy and kindness as were
+they, but it were on the day when Christopher and his
+entered Oakenham.
+
+The Earl Geoffrey was not amongst them that met them; but
+whenas they sat at the banquet in the hall, and Goldilind
+was in the high-seat, gloriously clad and with the kingly
+crown on her head, there came a tall man up to the dais,
+grey-headed and keen-eyed, and he was unarmed, without so
+much as a sword by his side, and clad in simple black; and
+he knelt before Goldilind, and laid his head on her lap, and
+spake:  "Lady and Queen, here is my head to do with as thou
+wilt; for I have been thy dastard, and I crave thy pardon,
+if so it may be, for I am Geoffrey."
+
+She looked kindly on him, and raised him up; and then she
+turned to the chief of the serving-men, and said:  "Fetch me
+a sword with its sheath and its girdle, and see that it be a
+good blade, and all well-adorned, both sword and sheath and
+girdle."  Even so it was done; and when she had the sword,
+she bade Sir Geoffrey kneel again before her, and she girt
+him with the said sword and spake:  "Sir Geoffrey, all the
+wrong which thou didest to me, I forgive it thee and forget
+it; but wherein thou hast done well, I will remember it, for
+thou hast given me a mighty King to be my man; nay, the
+mightiest and the loveliest on earth; wherefore I bless
+thee, and will make thee my Earl to rule all Meadham under
+me, if so be the folk gainsay it not.  Wherefore now let
+these folk fetch thee seemly garments and array thee, and
+then come sit amongst us, and eat and drink on this high
+day; for a happy day it is when once again I sit in my
+father's house, and see the faces of my folk that loveth
+me."
+
+She spake loud and clear, so that most folk in the hall
+heard her; and they rejoiced at her words, for Sir Geoffrey
+was no ill ruler, but wise and of great understanding, keen
+of wit and deft of word, and a mighty warrior withal; only
+they might not away with it that their Lady and Queen had
+become as alien to them.  So when they heard her speak her
+will, they shouted for joy of the peace and goodwill that
+was to be.
+
+There then sat Geoffrey at the banquet; and Christopher
+smiled on him, and said:  "See now, lord, if I have not done
+as thou badest when thou gavest me the treasure of
+Greenharbour, for I have brought the wolf-heads to thy
+helping and not to thy scathing. Do thou as much for me, and
+be thou a good earl to thy Lady and mine, and then shalt
+thou yet live and die a happy man, and my friend.  Or
+else--"
+
+"There shall be no else, Lord King," quoth Geoffrey; "all
+men henceforth shall tell of me as a true man."
+
+So they were blithe and joyous together.  But a seven days
+thence was the Allmen's Mote gathered to the wood-side
+without Meadhamstead, and thronged it was:  and there
+Goldilind stood up before all the folk and named Sir
+Geoffrey for Earl to rule the land under her, and none
+gainsaid it, for they knew him meet thereto.  Then she named
+from the baronage and knighthood such men as she had been
+truly told were meet thereto to all the offices of the
+kingdom, and there was none whom she named but was well-
+pleasing to the folk; for she had taken counsel beforehand
+with all the wisest men of all degrees.
+
+As for herself, all loved and worshipped her; and this alone
+seemed hard unto them, that she must needs go back to
+Oakenrealm in a few days:  but when she heard them murmur
+thereat, she behight them, that once in every year she would
+come into Meadham and spend one whole month therein; and,
+were it possible, ever should that be the month of May.  So
+when they heard that, they all praised her, and were the
+more content.  This custom she kept ever thereafter, and she
+lay in with her second son in the city of Meadhamstead, so
+that he was born therein; and she named him to be King after
+her, to the great joy of that folk; and he grew up strong
+and well-liking, and came to the kingship while his mother
+was yet alive, and was a good man and well-beloved of his
+folk.
+
+Before she turned back with her man, she let seek out
+Aloyse, and when she came before her, gave her gifts and
+bade her come back with her to Oakenham and serve her there
+if she would:  and the damsel was glad, for there in
+Meadhamstead was she poor and not well seen to, whereas it
+was rumoured of her that she had been one of the jailers of
+Goldilind.
+
+When they came back to Oakenham, there they met Gandolf,
+Baron of Brimside, now whole of his hurts, and the King
+greeted him kindly, and did well to him all his life; and
+found him ever a true man.
+
+Good thenceforward was the life of Child Christopher and
+Goldilind:  whiles indeed they happed on unpeace or other
+trouble; but never did fair love and good worship depart
+from them, either of each unto each, or of the whole folk
+unto them twain.
+
+To no man did Christopher mete out worse than his deserts,
+nay, to most far better he meted:  no man he feared, nor
+hated any save the tormentors of poor folk; and but a little
+while abided his hatred of those, for it cut short their
+lives, so that they were speedily done with and forgotten.
+And when he died a very old man but one year after Goldilind
+his dear, no king that ever lived was so bewailed by his
+folk as was Child Christopher.
+
+
+
+
+The end of Project Gutenberg etext of Child Christopher by
+William Morris.
+
+
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/old/chilc10.zip b/old/chilc10.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..41123e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/chilc10.zip