d because
she bade me." Said Ralph roughly: "And Redhead, him whom I saved from
torments and death; dost thou know him? didst thou know him?"

"Yea," she said, "I had from him what he had learned concerning thee
from the sergeants and others, and then I put words into his mouth."
"Yea then," quoth Ralph, "then he also is a traitor!" "Nay, nay," she
said, "he is a true man and loveth thee, and whatever he hath said to
thee he troweth himself. Moreover, I tell thee here and now that all
that he told thee of the affairs of Utterbol, and thine outlook there,
is true and overtrue."

She sprang to her feet therewith, and stood before him and clasped her
hands before him and said: "I know that thou seekest the Well at the
World's End and the deliverance of the damsel whom the Lord ravished
from the wild man: now I swear it by thy mouth, that if thou go to
Utterbol thou art undone and shalt come to the foulest pass there, and
moreover that so going thou shalt bring the uttermost shame and
torments on the damsel."

Said Ralph: "Yea, but what is her case as now? tell me."

Quoth Agatha: "She is in no such evil case; for my lady hateth her not
as yet, or but little; and, which is far more, my lord loveth her after
his fashion, and withal as I deem feareth her; for though she hath
utterly gainsaid his desire, he hath scarce so much as threatened her.
A thing unheard of. Had it been another woman she had by this time
known all the bitterness that leadeth unto death at Utterbol." Ralph
paled and he scowled on her, then he said: "And how knowest thou all
the privity of the Lord of Utterbol? who telleth thee of all this?"
She smiled and spake daintily: "Many folk tell me that which I would
know; and that is because whiles I conquer the tidings with my wits,
and whiles buy it with my body. Anyhow what I tell thee is the very
sooth concerning this damsel, and this it is: that whereas she is but
in peril, she shall be in deadly peril, yea and that instant, if thou
go to Utterbol, thou, who art her lover..." "Nay," said Ralph angrily,
"I am not her lover, I am but her well-willer." "Well," quoth Agatha
looking down and knitting her brows, "when thy good will towards her
has become known, then shall she be thrown at once into the pit of my
lord's cruelty. Yea, to speak sooth, even as it is, for thy sake (for
her I heed naught) I would that the lord might find her gone when he
cometh back to Utterbol."

"Yea," said Ralph, red