ether, deedless, a man and a maid of whom no
tale may be told. What next then, and who shall sunder us?"

Therewith he drew his sword from the sheath, and tossed it into the
air, and caught it by the hilts as it came down, and he cried out:
"Hearken, Ursula! By my sword I swear it, that when I come home to the
little land, if my father and my mother and all my kindred fall not
down before thee and worship thee, then will I be a man without
kindred, and I will turn my back on the land I love, and the House
wherein I was born, and will win for thee and me a new kindred that all
the world shall tell of. So help me Saint Nicholas, and all Hallows,
and the Mother of God!"

She looked on him with exceeding love, and said: "Ah, beloved, how
fair thou art! Is it not as I said, yea, and more, that now lieth the
world at thy feet, if thou wilt stoop to pick it up? Believe me,
sweet, all folk shall see this as I see it, and shall judge betwixt
thee and me, and deem me naught."

"Beloved," he said, "thou dost not wholly know thyself; and I deem that
the mirrors of steel serve thee but ill; and now must thou have
somewhat else for a mirror, to wit, the uprising and increase of
trouble concerning thee and thy fairness, and the strife of them that
love thee overmuch, who shall strive to take thee from me; and then the
blade that hath seen the Well at the World's End shall come out of his
sheath and take me and thee from the hubbub, and into the quiet fields
of my father's home, and then shalt thou be learned of thyself, when
thou seest that thou art the desire of all hearts."

"Ah, the wisdom of thee," she said, "and thy valiancy, and I am become
feeble and foolish before thee! What shall I do then?"

He said: "Many a time shall it be shown what thou shalt do; but here
and now is the highway dry and long, and the plain meads and acres on
either hand, and a glimmer of Whitwall afar off, and the little cloud
of dust about us two in the late spring weather; and the Sage and
Michael riding behind us, and smiting dust from the hard road. And now
if this also be a dream, let it speedily begone, and let us wake up in
the ancient House at Upmeads, which thou hast never seen--and thou and
I in each other's arms."

CHAPTER 13

They Come to Whitwall Again

Herewith they were come to a little thorp where the way sundered, for
the highway went on to Whitwall, and a byway turned off to Swevenham.
Thereby was a poor hostel,