behind him, and when she came close up to it, she saw
his horse tied to a ring in the wall, a strong and good bay nag. The
sight of him, and the glimpse of the free and open land, stirred in her
the misery of her days and the yearning for the loveliness of the world
without, converse of friends, hope of the sufficiency of desire, and the
sweetness of love returned. And so strong a wave of anguish swept over
her, that she bowed her down upon the grass and wept bitterly. Yet but
a little while it lasted; she rose up presently and looked warily all
round her, and up to the Castle, and saw none stirring; she drew up the
skirts of her green gown into her girdle, till the hem but just hid her
knees; then she stepped lightly through the half-open door with flushed
cheeks and glittering eyes, while her heart rose within her; then she
lifted her hand, unhitched the reins from the iron ring, and quietly
led the horse close under the garth-wall, and stole gently up the
slope which, as all roads from the Castle, went straightway toward the
thicket, but this was the straightest. So she went, till she came to the
corner of the garth-wall, and a little further; and the Castle on that
side was blind, save for the swale on the battlement, whereon in that
deep peace was little going; and, moreover, it was not even yet six
o'clock.

CHAPTER XIV. GOLDILIND GOES FREE.

There then she stayed the horse, and, flushed and panting, got lightly
into the saddle and bestrode it, and, leaning over on the beast's neck,
smote his flanks with her heels; the horse was fresh, though his
master had been weary, whereas the said messenger had gotten him from
a forester some six miles away in the wood that morning, so the nag
answered to her call for speed, and she went a great gallop into the
wood, and was hidden in a twinkling from any eyes that might be looking
out of the Castle.

Without checking the nag she sped along, half mad with joy at the
freedom of this happy morn. Nigh aimless she was, but had an inkling
that it were well with her if she could hold northward ever; for the old
man aforesaid had told her of Oakenrealm, and how it lay northward of
them; so that way she drifted as the thicket would suffer her. When she
had gone as much of a gallop as she might for some half hour, she drew
rein to breathe her nag, and hearkened; she turned in the saddle, but
heard nought to affright her, so she went on again, but some what more
soberly; an