ed herself in her mantle, and thrust her head into
a chink in the tower, which was old and ancient, and heard Aucassin
within weeping and making very great sorrow, and lamenting for his sweet
friend whom he loved so much. And when she had listened enough to him
she began to speak.

_Here they sing_.

Nicolette the bright of face
Leaned her at the buttress-base,
Heard within her lover dear
Weeping and bewailing her;
Then she spake the thought in her:

"Aucassin, most gentle knight,
High-born lording, honoured wight,
What avails you to weep so?
What your wailing, what your woe?
I may ne'er your darling be,
For your father hateth me;
All your kin thereto agree.
For your sake I'll pass the sea,
Get me to some far countrie."

Tresses of her hair she clipped,
And within the tower slipped.
Aucassin, that lover true,
Took them and did honour due,
Fondly kissed them and caressed,
And bestowed them in his breast.
Then in tears anew he brake
For his love's sake.

_Here they speak and tell the story_.

When Aucassin heard Nicolette say that she would depart into another
country, he felt nothing but anger.

"Fair sweet friend," said he, "you shall not depart, for then would you
have killed me. The first man that set eyes on you and could do so would
straightway lay hands on you and take you to be his concubine. And once
you had lived with any man but me, now dream not that I should wait to
find a knife wherewith to strike me to the heart and kill me! Nay,
verily, that were all too long to wait. Rather would I fling me just so
far as I might see a bit of wall, or a grey stone; and against that would
I dash my head so hard that my eyes should start out and all my brains be
scattered. Yet even such a death would I die rather than know you had
lived with any man but me."

"Ah!" said she, "I trow not that you love me so well as you say; but I
love you better than you do me."

"Alack!" said Aucassin, "fair sweet friend! That were not possible that
you should love me so well as I do you. Woman cannot love man so well as
man loves woman. For a woman's love lies in her eye, in bud of bosom or
tip of toe. But a man's love is within him, rooted in his heart, whence
it cannot go forth."

While Aucassin and Nicolette were talking together, the town watch came
down a street. They had their swords drawn under their cloaks, for Count
Warren had given them command that if they could lay hands on her they
shou