I beheld the face of heaven? Oh, welcome, welcome
art thou who hast come to end my weary life!'

The moaning sound of the voice thrilled the brave champion with horror.
Putting his shoulder to the iron door, he gave a mighty heave, and the
hinges gave way. Nothing could he see, for the darkness was terrible,
and his foot, which he stretched cautiously inward, touched no floor.
And, besides, the foul smells rushed out, poisoning him with their
fumes.

But when he had grown in some measure used to the darkness and the
odours, he began to think how he could best deliver the Red Cross Knight
from the pit into which he had fallen. To this end he sought through the
castle till he found some lengths of rope, which he carried back with
him, as he did not know how deep the pit might be. He knotted three or
four together and let the rope down, but even when a faint cry from the
captive told him that it had reached the bottom, his labours were not
ended yet. Twice the knots gave way, by good fortune, before the man was
more than a foot or two from the ground, and other pieces of rope had to
be fetched. Then, when all was made fast, the prisoner had grown so weak
that he could scarce draw himself up; and again the knight feared
greatly lest he himself should not have strength to hold fast the rope.
But at length his courage and patience prevailed, and the Red Cross
Knight, hollow-eyed, and thin as a skeleton, looked once more upon the
sun.

His parents might have gazed on him and not known him for their child,
but Una's heart leapt when the unknown knight brought him to her.

'Welcome,' she said, 'welcome in weal or woe. Your presence I have
lacked for many a day,' and fain would she have heard the tale of his
sufferings, had not the knight, who knew that men love not to speak of
their sorrows, begged her to tend the captive carefully, so that his
forces might come to him again. Further, he bade them remember that they
had in their power the woman who had been the cause of all their grief,
and the time had come to give sentence on her.

'I cannot slay her, now she is mine to slay,' answered Una, 'but strip
her robe of scarlet from off her, and let her go whither she will.'

With her robes and her jewels went all the magic arts that gave her
youth and beauty. Instead of the dazzling maiden who had wrought so much
havoc in the world, there stood before them an old bald-headed shaking
crone, that seemed as ancient as the earth