ld kill her. And the watchman on the tower saw them coming, and
heard that they were talking of Nicolette and threatening to kill her.

"Great Heavens!" he said, "what pity it were should they slay so fair a
maid! 'Twere a mighty good deed if I could tell her, in such wise that
they perceived it not, and she could be ware of them. For if they slay
her, then will Aucassin my young lord die; and that were great pity."

_Here they sing_.

Valiant was the watch on wall,
Kindly, quick of wit withal.
He struck up a roundelay
Very seasonably gay.

"Maiden of the noble heart,
Winsome fair of form thou art;
Winsome is thy golden hair,
Blue thine eye and blithe thine air.
Well I see it by thy cheer,
Thou hast spoken with thy fere,
Who for thee lies dying here.
This I tell thee, thou give ear!
'Ware thee of the sudden foe!
Yonder seeking thee they go.
'Neath each cloak a sword I see;
Terribly they threaten thee.
Soon they'll do thee some misdeed
Save thou take heed!" {39}

_Here they speak and tell the story_.

"Ah!" said Nicolette; "now may thy father's soul and thy mother's be in
blessed repose, for the grace and for the courtesy with which thou hast
told me! Please God I will guard me well from them, and may God Himself
be my guard!"

She wrapped her mantle about her in the shadow of the pier, till they had
passed. Then she took leave of Aucassin and went her way till she came
to the castle wall. There was a breach in it which had been boarded up.
On to this she climbed, and so got over between the wall and the ditch;
and looking down she saw the ditch was very deep and the sides very
sheer, and she was sore afraid.

"Ah, gracious Heaven!" she said; "if I let myself fall I shall break my
neck; and if I abide here, I shall be taken to-morrow and burned in a
fire. Nay, I had liefer die here than be made a show to-morrow for all
the folk to stare at!"

She crossed herself, and let herself slip down into the ditch. And when
she came to the bottom, her fair feet and her fair hands, untaught that
ought could hurt them, were bruised and torn, and the blood flowed in
full a dozen places. Nevertheless she felt neither hurt nor pain for her
great dread. And if she were troubled as to the getting in, she was far
more troubled as to the getting out. But she bethought her that it was
no good to linger there; and she found a sharpened stake which had been
thrown by those within in the defence of the castle; a