se your head in the Dewpond which lies
on the hilltop to the west, and having done so to return to your watch
between the trees. And fourth, to make no utterance on any account
whatever from sunset to sunrise."

"Suppose I should sneeze?" inquired the King anxiously.

"There's no supposing about it," said the Ringdove. "Sneezing, seeing
that your head will be extremely wet, is practically inevitable. But
the rule applies only to such utterance as lies within human control.
When the fourth vigil has been successfully accomplished, return to us
for a blessing and the gray robe of our Order."

"But how," asked the King, "during my vigils shall I know when midnight
is due?"

"In the third quarter after eleven a bird sings. At the beginning of
its song go forth from the Ring, and at the ending plunge your head
into the Pond. For on these nights the bird sings ceaselessly for
fifteen minutes, but stops at the very moment of midnight."

"And is this really all?"

"This is all."

"How easy it is to become good," said William cheerfully. "I will begin
at once."

So impatient was he to become a Brother Dove--

(But here Martin Pippin broke off abruptly, and catching the rope of
the swing in his left hand he gave it a great lurch.

Joan: Oh! Oh! Oh!

Martin: I perceive, Mistress Joan, that you lose interest in my story.
Your mouth droops.

Joan: Oh, no! Oh, no! It is only--it is a very nice story--but--

Martin: What cannot be said aloud can frequently be whispered.

He leaned his ear close to her mouth, and very shyly she whispered into
it.

Joan (whispering very shyly): Why must the young King join a
Brotherhood? I thought...this was to be a...love story.

Martin smiled and chose an apple from her lap.

"Keep this for me," said he, "until I ask for it; and if you are not
then satisfied, neither will I be")

So impatient (resumed Martin) was the King to enter the Brotherhood,
that he abandoned his idea of visiting the Huddle Stone and the Wapping
Thorp (which would have taken him out of his course), and, without even
waiting to break his fast, leaped on to Pepper's back and turned her
head southwest towards the hills. And in his eagerness he failed to
remark how Pepper stumbled at every second step. Before he had gone a
mile he came to the Guess Gate.

Of the Guess Gate, as you may know, all men ask a question in passing
through, and in the back-swing of the Gate it creaks an answer. So
nothing more