meet the newcomers and was standing there simply and somewhat shyly;
and the young man beheld her he blushed red and cast his eyes down. He
was not so fair a youth as the other, tall and stark, red-haired, the
hair cut short to his head, yet no ill-looked man neither, grey-eyed
and firm-lipped. The Knight took him kindly by the hands and greeted
him, and then he turned to the Maiden and took each of the young men
by a hand, and let them before her, and said: "Fair lady, these two,
who will ere long be knights, are my squires-of-arms, who love me
wholly and are good men and true, and perilous in the stour to them
that love me not. Now I pray thee be as kind to them as thou wilt, yet
as I am, to wit, ruling them well, and making them run and return for
thee, and giving them but little of their will." And he laughed
therewith.

So James knelt down before her, and would have kissed her hand but she
reached it not to him. But if James were abashed when he first cast
eyes on her, how was it now with Roland? He turned red indeed, and
made no obeisance to her, but stood staring at her with all his eyes.

But the other folk gathered round them to get the Blue Knight's
greeting, and also, sooth to say, to gaze upon the Maiden. And when
the Knight had taken the welcome of them with many kind words, he said
in a loud voice so that all could hear: "Squires and sergeants and
men-at-arms, this is the adventure that I have had: that I came upon
this lady in the hands of a caitiff who had set his men to steal her
while others held her kinsmen and folk in battle, and now called her
his war-taken thrall. And whereas he was a craven and would not fight
for her, I must needs buy her of him, though I bade him battle in all
honour; and fain am I that he took it not, for the slaying of such
dogs is but dirty work. But hearken, though I have bought this lady at
a price, it was to make her her own and not mine, and of her own will
has she come hither to my house. But I think on the way thither she
has become somewhat my friend in all kindness and honour, and I deem
that to you also she will be a friend while she dwells with us, and if
ye be less than friendly with her, then are ye hewn out of far other
wood than I be. But all this I have told you that there may be no
slander or backbiting, or deeming of evil whereas none is; yea, and no
deeming of guile or mystery in the tale, but all may be plain and
outspoken."

They gave forth a murmur of