at mine errand is."

Then she spoke and said: "Welcome to thee, Sir Castellan of
Greenharbour, we shall hear thy words gladly."

Said the new-comer: "Lady, I am no longer the Burgreve of Greenharbour,
but Sir Guisebert, lord of the Green March, and thy true servant and a
suitor for thy grace and pardon."

"I pardon thee not, but thank thee for what thou didst of good to me,"
said Goldilind, "and I think that now thine errand shall be friendly."

Then turned the Green Knight to the King, and he said: "Have I thy leave
to speak, Lord King?" and he smiled covertly.

But Christopher looked on the face and coat-armour of him, and called
him to mind as the man who had stood betwixt him and present death
that morning in the porch of the Littledale house; so he looked on him
friendly, and said: "My leave thou hast, Sir Knight, to speak fully and
freely, and that the more as meseemeth I saw thee first when thou hadst
weaponed men at thy back, and wert turning their staves away from my
breast."

"Even so it is, Lord King," said the Knight; "and to say sooth, I fear
thee less for thy kingship, than because I wot well that thou mayst
lightly take me up by the small of my back and cast me over thy shoulder
if thou have a mind therefor."

Christopher laughed at his word, and bade him sit down upon the green
grass and tell his errand straightway; and the Knight tarried not, but
spake out: "Queen of Meadham, I am a friend and fellow, and in some sort
a servant, to Earl Geoffrey, Regent of Meadham, whom thou knowest; and
he hath put a word in my mouth which is both short and easy for me to
tell. All goes awry in Meadham now, and men are arming against each
other, and will presently be warring, but if thou look to it; because
all this is for lack of thee. But if thou wilt vouchsafe to come to
Meadhamstead, and sit on thy throne for a little while, commanding and
forbidding; and if thou wilt appoint one of the lords for thine Earl
there, and others for thy captains, and governors and burgreves and so
forth; then if the people see thee and hear thee, the swords will go
into their sheaths, and the spears will hang on the wall again, and we
shall have peace in Meadham, for all will do thy bidding. Wherefore,
Lady and Queen, I beseech thee to come to us, and stave off the riot and
ruin. What sayest thou?"

Goldilind made answer in a while: "Sir Guisebert, true it is that I long
to see my people, and to look once more on my father's h