ixt home and hell, till her heart came back to her and
the tears began to flow from her eyes. Forthright came back Aloyse,
bearing a white loaf and a little pitcher of milk on a silver
serving-dish; she laid them down, unlocked the door into the garden, and
thrust Goldilind through by the shoulders; then she turned and took up
her serving-dish with the bread and milk, and handed it to Goldilind
through the door, and said: "Now is my Lady served. It were indeed well
that my Lady should strengthen herself this hour for the hour next to
come."

Therewith she turned about, and shut and locked the door; and the King's
daughter fell to eagerly on her bread, and thought of little till
she had eaten and drunk, save that she felt the sweet scent of the
gilliflowers and eglantine as it were a part of her meal.

Then she went slowly down the garden, treading the greensward beside the
flowers; and she looked on the hold, and the low sun gilded the walls
thereof and glittered in a window here and there, and though there was
on her a foreboding of the hours of that day, she did what she might
to make the best of the fragrant May morning and the song of birds and
rustle of leaves, though, indeed, at whiles the tears would gush out of
her eyes when she thought how young she was and how feeble, and the pity
of herself became sweet unto her.

CHAPTER XIII. OF GOLDILIND IN THE GARTH.

Now, as she went in that garden with her face turned toward the postern
which led into the open space of the greenwood, which was but two
bow-shots from the thicket, she heard the clatter of horse-hoofs on the
loose stones of the path, and how they stopped at the said postern; and
presently there was a key in the lock, the door opened, and a man came
in walking stiffly, like a rider who has ridden far and fast. He was
clad in jack and sallet, and had a sword by his side, and on his sleeve
was done in green and gold a mountain aflame; so that Goldilind knew him
at once for a man of Earl Geoffrey's; and, indeed, she had seen the
man before, coming and going on errands that she knew nought of, and
on which nothing followed that was of import to her. Therefore, as
she watched him cross the garden and go straight up to the door of the
Foresters' Tower, and take out another key and enter, she heeded him but
little, nor did his coming increase her trouble a whit.

She walked on toward the postern, and now she saw that the errand-bearer
had left it open