apples, and sweet it was to Ralph to
see her face come clear again from out the mirk of the wood. Then they
sat down again together and she said: "We two are seeking the Well at
the World's End; now which of us knows more of the way? who is to lead,
and who to follow?" Said Ralph: "If thou know no more than I, it is
little that thou knowest. Sooth it is that for many days past I have
sought thee that thou mightest lead me."

She laughed sweetly, and said: "Yea, knight, and was it for that cause
that thou soughtest me, and not for my deliverance?" He said soberly:
"Yet in very deed I set myself to deliver thee." "Yea," she said, "then
since I am delivered, I must needs deem of it as if it were through thy
deed. And as I suppose thou lookest for a reward therefor, so thy
reward shall be, that I will lead thee to the Well at the World's End.
Is it enough?" "Nay," said Ralph. They held their peace a minute, then
she said: "Maybe when we have drunk of that Water and are coming back,
it will be for thee to lead. For true it is that I shall scarce know
whither to wend; since amidst of my dreaming of the Well, and
of...other matters, my home that was is gone like a dream."

He looked at her, but scarce as if he were heeding all her words. Then
he spoke: "Yea, thou shalt lead me. I have been led by one or another
ever since I have left Upmeads." Now she looked on him somewhat
ruefully, and said: "Thou wert not hearkening e'en now; so I say it
again, that the time shall come when thou shalt lead me."

In Ralph's mind had sprung up again that journey from the Water of the
Oak-tree; so he strove with himself to put the thought from him, and
sighed and said: "Dost thou verily know much of the way?" She nodded
yeasay. "Knowest thou of the Rock of the Fighting Man?" "Yea," she
said. "And of the Sage that dwelleth in this same wood?" "Most
surely," she said, "and to-morrow evening or the morrow after we shall
find him; for I have been taught the way to his dwelling; and I wot
that he is now called the Sage of Swevenham. Yet I must tell thee that
there is some peril in seeking to him; whereas his dwelling is known of
the Utterbol riders, who may follow us thither. And yet again I deem
that he will find some remedy thereto."

Said Ralph: "Whence didst thou learn all this, my friend?" And his
face grew troubled again; but she said simply: "She taught it to me who
spake to me in the wood by Hampton under Scaur."

She