ndeed the
cause of it, but it is the folly of man, not of women."

Branwen then gave him a detailed account of the duel between Bladud and
Gunrig, as well as of the subsequent proceedings of the latter, with
regard to herself.

The face of the old man elongated as she proceeded with her narration,
and as it was long by nature--the face, not the narration--its
appearance when she had concluded was solemnising in the extreme.

"Assuredly you are right, my child, for it is amazing folly in such a
man as Gunrig to suppose he is a fitting mate for you,--though it is no
folly in him to wish to get you for a wife,--and it is no folly in you
to flee from such an undesirable union. But how to help you in this
matter is more difficult to conceive than anything that has puzzled my
brain since the day I left Tyre."

"Can you not conceal me here till we have time to think what is best to
be done?" asked Branwen simply, "for I will die rather than wed this--
this monster Gunrig!"

The Hebrew smiled pitifully, for he saw in the maiden's face and bearing
evidence of a brave, resolute spirit, which would not condescend to
boasting, and had no thought of using exaggerated language.

"Truly I will conceal you--for a time. But I cannot leave you here
alone when I go on my wanderings. Besides, the king will send out his
hunters all over the land--men who are trained to note the slightest
track of bear, deer, and wolf, and they will find it easy work to
discover your little footprints. No doubt, near the town, and even here
where many wanderers come and go, they will fail to pick up the trail,
but if you venture into the lonely woods the footmarks will certainly
betray you, and if I go with you, my doom will be fixed, for my big
sandal is as well known to the king's hunters as the big nose on my
face, or the white beard on my chin."

Poor Branwen became, and looked, very miserable on hearing this, for the
idea of hunters and footprints had not once occurred to her.

"Oh what, then, is to be done?" she asked with a helpless yet eager
look.

For some time the old man sat in silence, with closed eyes as if in
meditation. Then he said, with a sad smile, that he supposed there was
nothing for it but to reveal one of his secrets to her.

"I have not many secrets, Branwen," he said, "but the one which I am
about to reveal to you is important. To make it known would be the ruin
of me. Yet I feel that I may trust you, for surely yo