ou hast abided here
our bidding and eaten thine heart through the heavy wearing of four days,
and made no plaint. Yet I cannot deem thee a dastard; thou so well knit
and shapely of body, so clear-eyed and bold of visage. Wherefore now I
ask thee, art thou willing to do me service, thereby to earn thy
guesting?"

Walter answered her, somewhat faltering at first, for he was astonished
at the change which had come over her; for now she spoke to him in
friendly wise, though indeed as a great lady would speak to a young man
ready to serve her in all honour. Said he: "Lady, I can thank thee
humbly and heartily in that thou biddest me do thee service; for these
days past I have loathed the emptiness of the hours, and nought better
could I ask for than to serve so glorious a Mistress in all honour."

She frowned somewhat, and said: "Thou shalt not call me Mistress; there
is but one who so calleth me, that is my thrall; and thou art none such.
Thou shalt call me Lady, and I shall be well pleased that thou be my
squire, and for this present thou shalt serve me in the hunting. So get
thy gear; take thy bow and arrows, and gird thee to thy sword. For in
this fair land may one find beasts more perilous than be buck or hart. I
go now to array me; we will depart while the day is yet young; for so
make we the summer day the fairest."

He made obeisance to her, and she arose and went to her chamber, and
Walter dight himself, and then abode her in the porch; and in less than
an hour she came out of the hall, and Walter's heart beat when he saw
that the Maid followed her hard at heel, and scarce might he school his
eyes not to gaze over-eagerly at his dear friend. She was clad even as
she was before, and was changed in no wise, save that love troubled her
face when she first beheld him, and she had much ado to master it:
howbeit the Mistress heeded not the trouble of her, or made no semblance
of heeding it, till the Maiden's face was all according to its wont.

But this Walter found strange, that after all that disdain of the Maid's
thralldom which he had heard of the Mistress, and after all the threats
against her, now was the Mistress become mild and debonaire to her, as a
good lady to her good maiden. When Walter bowed the knee to her, she
turned unto the Maid, and said: "Look thou, my Maid, at this fair new
Squire that I have gotten! Will not he be valiant in the greenwood? And
see whether he be well shapen or not. Doth