So now he saw the Lady bending over him, and she said in a kind
and very low voice: "Rise up, young man, rise up, Ralph, and say
no word, but come with me a little way into the wood ere dawn come,
for I have a word for thee."
So he stood up and was ready to go with her, his heart beating
hard for joy and wonder. "Nay," she whispered, "take thy sword
and war-gear lest ill befall: do on thine hauberk; I will be
thy squire." And she held his war-coat out for him to do on.
"Now," she said, still softly, "hide thy curly hair with the helm,
gird thy sword to thee, and come without a word."
Even so he did, and therewithal felt her hand take his
(for it was dark as they stepped amidst the trees), and she
led him into the Seventh Heaven, for he heard her voice,
though it were but a whisper, as it were a caress and a laugh
of joy in each word.
She led him along swiftly, fumbling nought with the paths betwixt
the pine-tree boles, where it was as dark as dark might be.
Every minute he looked to hear her say a word of why she had brought
him thither, and that then she would depart from him; so he prayed
that the silence and the holding of his hand might last a long while--
for he might think of naught save her--and long it lasted forsooth,
and still she spake no word, though whiles a little sweet chuckle,
as of the garden warbler at his softest, came from her lips,
and the ripple of her raiment as her swift feet drave it,
sounded loud to his eager ears in the dark, windless wood.
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