I beseech thee to tell me of thine old home,
even as last night I told thee of mine."

"Yea," she said, "with a good will." And straightway she fell to
telling him of her ways when she was little, and of her father and
mother, and of her sister that had died, and the brother whom Ralph had
seen at Bourton Abbas: she told also of bachelors who had wooed her,
and jested concerning them, yet kindly and without malice, and talked
so sweetly and plainly, that the wilderness was become a familiar place
to Ralph, and he took her hand in the dusk and said: "But, my friend,
how was it with the man for whom thou wert weeping when I first fell in
with thee at Bourton Abbas?"

She said: "I will tell thee plainly, as a friend may to a friend.
Three hours had not worn from thy departure ere tidings came to me
concerning him, that neither death nor wounding had befallen him; and
that his masterless horse and bloodstained saddle were but a device to
throw dust into our eyes, so that there might be no chase after him by
the men of the Abbot's bailiff, and that he might lightly do as he
would, to wit, swear himself into the riders of the Burg of the Four
Friths; for, in sooth, he was weary of me and mine. Yet further, I
must needs tell thee that I know now, that when I wept before thee it
was partly in despite, because I had found out in my heart (though I
bade it not tell me so much) that I loved him but little."

"Yea," said Ralph, "and when didst thou come to that knowledge of thine
heart?"

"Dear friend," she said, "mayhappen I may tell thee hereafter, but as
now I will forbear." He laughed for joy of her, and in a little that
talk fell down between them.

Despite the terror of the desert and the lonely ways, when Ralph laid
him down on his stony bed, happiness wrapped his heart about. Albeit
all this while he durst not kiss or caress her, save very measurely,
for he deemed that she would not suffer it; nor as yet would he ask her
wherefore, though he had it in his mind that he would not always
forbear to ask her.

Many days they rode that pass of the mountains, though it was not
always so evil and dreadful as at the first beginning; for now again
the pass opened out into little valleys, wherein was foison of grass
and sweet waters withal, and a few trees. In such places must they
needs rest them, to refresh their horses as well as themselves, and to
gather food, of venison, and wild-fruit and nuts. But abiding in such