e: "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 shoul