er as God made
her; and I shall tell thee that when he was about that work he was
minded to be a craftsmaster; for there is no blemish about her that she
should hide her at all or anywhere. Her sides are sleek, and her
thighs no rougher than her face, and her feet as dainty as her hands:
yea, she is a pearl all over, withal she is as strong as a knight, and
I warrant her hardier of heart than most knights. A happy man shalt
thou be; for surely I deem thou hast not come hither to abide her
without some token or warrant of her."

Ralph held down his head, and he could not meet the old woman's eyes as
she spake thus; and the maiden took herself out of earshot at the first
words of the carline hereof, and was halfway down to the river by now.

Ralph spake after a while and said: "Tell me, is she good, and a good
woman?" The dame laughed scornfully and said: "Surely, surely; she is
the saint of the Forest Land, and the guardian of all poor folk. Ask
the carles else!"

Ralph held his peace, and rose to be gone and turning saw the damsel
wading the shallow ford, and looking over her shoulder at him. He gave
the dame good day, and departed light-foot but heavy hearted. Yet as
he went, he kept saying to himself: "Did she not send that Roger to
turn my ways hither? yet she cometh not. Surely she hath changed in
these last days, or it may be in these last hours: yea, or this very
hour."

Amidst such thoughts he came into the wood, and made his way by the
paths and open places, going south and east of the House: whereas the
last day he had gone west and north. He went a soft pace, but wandered
on without any stay till it was noon, and he had seen nought but the
wild things of the wood, nor many of them. But at last he heard the
tinkle of a little bell coming towards him: so he stood still and got
the hilt of his sword ready to his hand; and the tinkle drew nearer,
and he heard withal the trample of some riding-beast; so he went toward
the sound, and presently in a clearer place of the wood came upon a man
of religion, a clerk, riding on a hackney, to whose neck hung a
horse-bell: the priest had saddle bags beside him and carried in his
right hand a book in a bag. When he met Ralph he blessed him, and
Ralph gave him the sele of the day, and asked him whither he would.
Said the Priest: "I am for the Little Plain and the Land of Abundance;
whence art thou, my son, and whither wilt thou?" "From that very land I
come,"