servant; but now shall he be my master and I his
servant." And still was she very wroth.

Quoth the Earl: "As to the matter of my being King of Meadham, that will
I be, whatever befall, or die in the place else. So if thou wilt not do
my rede, then must the varlet whom thou lovest die, and at Greenharbour
must thou abide with Dame Elinor. There is no help for it."

She shrieked out at that word of his, and well nigh swooned, lying back
in her chair: but presently fell a-weeping sorely. But the Earl said:
"Hearken, my Lady, I am not without warrant to do this. Tell me, hast
thou ever seen any fairer or doughtier than this youngling?"

"Never," said she.

"So say we all," he said. "Now I shall tell thee (and I can bring
witness to it) that in his last hour the King, thy father, when he gave
thee into my keeping, spake also this: that I should wed thee to none
save the fairest and doughtiest man that might be found: even so would I
do now. What then sayest thou?"

She answered not, but still wept somewhat; then said the Earl: "Lady,
give me leave, and I shall send thy women to thee, and sit in the great
hall for an hour, and if within that while thou send a woman of thine
to say one word, Yes, unto me, then is all well. But if not, then do I
depart from Greenharbour straightway, and take the youngling with me to
hang him up on the first tree. Be wise, I pray thee."

And therewith he went his ways. But Goldilind, being left alone a
little, rose up and paced the chamber to and fro, and her tears and
sobbing ceased; and a great and strange joy grew up in her heart,
mingled with the pain of longing, so that she might rest in nowise. Even
therewith the door opened, and her women entered, Aloyse first, and she
called to her at once, and bade her to find Earl Geoffrey in the great
hall, and say to him: Yes. So Aloyse went her ways, and Goldilind bade
her other women to array her in the best and goodliest wise that they
might. And the day was yet somewhat young. Now it must be said of Earl
Geoffrey that, in spite of his hard word, he had it not in his heart
either to slay Christopher or to leave Goldilind at Greenharbour to the
mercy of Dame Elinor.

CHAPTER XXI. OF THE WEDDING OF THOSE TWAIN.

Now were folk gathered in the hall, and the Earl Geoffrey was standing
on the dais by the high-seat, and beside him a worthy clerk, the Abbot
of Meadhamstead, a monk of St. Benedict, and next to him the Burgreve
of Greenhar