g beside the pool was his love Margaret,
her naked body crouched and bowed among the creatures of the mud; and
her two waves of gold were flung behind her like a smooth mantle, but
the one black lock was drawn forward over her head, and she was dipping
and dipping it into the dank waters. And every time she drew the
dripping lock from its stagnant bath, it glimmered with an unearthly
phosphorescence, that shed a ghostly light upon the hollow, and all
that it contained. And at each dipping the lock of hair came out
blacker than before.

At last she was done, and she slowly squeezed the water from her
unnatural tress, and laid it back in its place among the gold. And then
she stretched her arms and sighed so heavily that the crawling
creatures by the pool were startled. But less started than she, when
lifting her head she saw the eyes of Hobb looking down on her. And such
terror came into her own eyes that the look rang on his heart as though
it had been a cry. Yet not a sound issued between her lips. And he said
to himself, "Now I need more wisdom than I have ever had." And he
continued to look steadily at her with eyes that she could not read.
And presently he spoke.

"We have some promises to redeem to-night," he said, "and we will
redeem them now. You promised me my perfect golden rose, and this night
I am going out of Open Winkins and back to my own Burgh. And to-morrow,
since I now know something of your power of gifts, I shall find the
rose upon my hill, and in exchange for it I will keep my word and give
you back yourself. But there is something more than this." And he went
a little apart, and soon came back to her with his jerkin undone and
his shirt in his hand. "You have my brothers' shirts and here is mine,"
he said. "To-night when I am gone you shall return to Open Winkins, and
spend the hours in taking out the work you have put into their shirts.
And in the morning when I meet them at the Burgh I shall know if you
have done this. But in exchange for theirs I give you mine to do with
as you will. And the only other thing I ask of you is this; that when
you have taken out the work in their shirts, you will spend the day in
making a white garment for the lady who will one day be my wife. And
whatever other embroidery you put upon it, let it bear on the left
breast a golden rose. And to-morrow night, if all is well at the Burgh,
I will come here for the last time and fetch it from you."

Then Hobb laid his sh