e, which is my Mistress's house, and the only
house in this land (save one which I may not see), and lieth southward no
long way. How she will deal with thee, I wot not; but all I have said of
her and thee and the King's Son is true. Therefore I say to thee, be
wary and cold at heart, whatsoever outward semblance thou mayst make. If
thou have to yield thee to her, then yield rather late than early, so as
to gain time. Yet not so late as to seem shamed in yielding for fear's
sake. Hold fast to thy life, my friend, for in warding that, thou
wardest me from grief without remedy. Thou wilt see me ere long; it may
be to-morrow, it may be some days hence. But forget not, that what I may
do, that I am doing. Take heed also that thou pay no more heed to me, or
rather less, than if thou wert meeting a maiden of no account in the
streets of thine own town. O my love! barren is this first farewell, as
was our first meeting; but surely shall there be another meeting better
than the first, and the last farewell may be long and long yet."

Therewith she stood up, and he knelt before her a little while without
any word, and then arose and went his ways; but when he had gone a space
he turned about, and saw her still standing in the same place; she stayed
a moment when she saw him turn, and then herself turned about.

So he departed through the fair land, and his heart was full with hope
and fear as he went.

CHAPTER XI: WALTER HAPPENETH ON THE MISTRESS

It was but a little after noon when Walter left the Maid behind: he
steered south by the sun, as the Maid had bidden him, and went swiftly;
for, as a good knight wending to battle, the time seemed long to him till
he should meet the foe.

So an hour before sunset he saw something white and gay gleaming through
the boles of the oak-trees, and presently there was clear before him a
most goodly house builded of white marble, carved all about with knots
and imagery, and the carven folk were all painted of their lively
colours, whether it were their raiment or their flesh, and the housings
wherein they stood all done with gold and fair hues. Gay were the
windows of the house; and there was a pillared porch before the great
door, with images betwixt the pillars both of men and beasts: and when
Walter looked up to the roof of the house, he saw that it gleamed and
shone; for all the tiles were of yellow metal, which he deemed to be of
very gold.

All this he saw as he w