ses on this foul mist!)

"The little fishes fishes woo,
Birds blithe on bough do bill and coo,
But lonely I, with sad ado
Sing willow!"

("And may Saint Anthony's fire consume Bernard, the merchant's round,
plump son!)

"'Tis sure a maid was made for man,
'Twas e'en so since the world began,
Yet doleful here, I only can
Sing willow!"

("And may the blessed saints have an eye upon her tender slumbers!")

Here Giles paused to sigh amain, to fold his arms, to cross his legs,
to frown and shake gloomy head; having done the which, he took breath
and sang again as followeth:--

"Alack-a-day, alas and woe!
Would that Genevra fair might know
'Tis for her love Giles of the Bow
Sings willow!"

But now, chancing to turn and espy Beltane, Giles fell suddenly
abashed, his comely face grew ruddy 'neath its tan and he sprang very
nimbly to his feet:

"Ha, tall brother--good brother," he stammered, "noble lord, God den to
ye--hail and good morrow! Verily and in faith, by Saint Giles (my
patron saint, brother) I do rejoice to see thee abroad again, as will
our surly Rogerkin that doth gloom and glower for thee and hath hung
about thy chamber door morn and noon and night, and our noble Sir
Benedict and Walkyn--but none more unfeignedly than Giles that doth
grow glad because of thee--"

"That is well," quoth Beltane, seating himself upon the battlement,
"for verily thy song was vastly doleful, Giles!"

"My song, lord, my song? Ha--hum! O verily, my song is a foolish song
or the song of a fool, for fool am I, forsooth--a love-lorn fool; a
doleful fool, a very fool of fools, that in my foolish folly hath set
his foolish heart on thing beyond reach of such base fool as I. In a
word, tall brother, I'm a fool, _videlicet_--a lover!"

"Truly, hast the speech and outward seeming of your approved lover,
Giles," nodded Beltane.

"Aye, verily!" sighed Giles, "aye, verily--behold my beard, I have had
no heart to trim it this sennight! Alack, I--I that was so point-de-vice
am like to become a second Diogenes (a filthy fellow that never washed
and lived in a foul tub!). As for food, I eat no more than the
chameleon that doth fill its belly with air and nought else, foolish
beast! I, that was wont to be a fair figure of a man do fall away to
skin and bone, daily, hourly, minute by minute--behold this leg, tall
brother!" And Giles thrust out a lusty, mailed limb. "Here was a leg
once--a prop