"
And again her face burned with blushes.
"And his brother," said Ralph, "the big captain that I have
come across these four times, doth he desire thee also?"
She laughed and said: "But as others have, no more:
he will not slay any man for my sake."
Said Ralph: "Didst thou wot that I was abiding thy coming at
the Castle of Abundance?" "Yea," she said, "have I not told thee
that I bade Roger lead thee thither?" Then she said softly:
"That was after that first time we met; after I had ridden away
on the horse of that butcher whom thou slayedst."
"But why camest thou so late?" said he; "Wouldst thou have come
if I had abided there yet?" She said: "What else did I desire
but to be with thee? But I set out alone looking not for any peril,
since our riders had gone to the north against them of the Burg:
but as I drew near to the Water of the Oak, I fell in with my husband
and that other man; and this time all my naysays were of no avail,
and whatsoever I might say he constrained me to go with them;
but straightway they fell out together, and fought, even as thou sawest."
And she looked at him sweetly, and as frankly as if he had been
naught but her dearest brother.
But he said: "It was concerning thee that they fought:
hast thou known the Black Knight for long?"
"Yea," she said, "I may not hide that he hath loved me:
but he hath also betrayed me. It was through him that the Knight
of the Sun drave me from him.
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