et on that new
day.

CHAPTER XII: THE WEARING OF FOUR DAYS IN THE WOOD BEYOND THE WORLD

He arose betimes, but found no one to greet him, neither was there any
sound of folk moving within the fair house; so he but broke his fast, and
then went forth and wandered amongst the trees, till he found him a
stream to bathe in, and after he had washed the night off him he lay down
under a tree thereby for a while, but soon turned back toward the house,
lest perchance the Maid should come thither and he should miss her.

It should be said that half a bow-shot from the house on that side (i.e.
due north thereof) was a little hazel-brake, and round about it the trees
were smaller of kind than the oaks and chestnuts he had passed through
before, being mostly of birch and quicken-beam and young ash, with small
wood betwixt them; so now he passed through the thicket, and, coming to
the edge thereof, beheld the Lady and the King's Son walking together
hand in hand, full lovingly by seeming.

He deemed it unmeet to draw back and hide him, so he went forth past them
toward the house. The King's Son scowled on him as he passed, but the
Lady, over whose beauteous face flickered the joyous morning smiles, took
no more heed of him than if he had been one of the trees of the wood. But
she had been so high and disdainful with him the evening before, that he
thought little of that. The twain went on, skirting the hazel-copse, and
he could not choose but turn his eyes on them, so sorely did the Lady's
beauty draw them. Then befell another thing; for behind them the boughs
of the hazels parted, and there stood that little evil thing, he or
another of his kind; for he was quite unclad, save by his fell of yellowy-
brown hair, and that he was girt with a leathern girdle, wherein was
stuck an ugly two-edged knife: he stood upright a moment, and cast his
eyes at Walter and grinned, but not as if he knew him; and scarce could
Walter say whether it were the one he had seen, or another: then he cast
himself down on his belly, and fell to creeping through the long grass
like a serpent, following the footsteps of the Lady and her lover; and
now, as he crept, Walter deemed, in his loathing, that the creature was
liker to a ferret than aught else. He crept on marvellous swiftly, and
was soon clean out of sight. But Walter stood staring after him for a
while, and then lay down by the copse-side, that he might watch the house
and the entry t