So I gave her the chaplet which my witch-mistress took from
the dead woman's neck; and went with her into the wildwood,
and taught her wisdom of the way and what she was to do.
And again I say to thee that she was so sweet and yet with a kind
of pity in her both of soul and body, and wise withal and quiet,
that I feared her, though I loved her; yea and still do:
for I deem her better than me, and meeter for thee and thy love
than I be.--Dost thou know her?"
"Yea," said Ralph, "and fair and lovely she is in sooth.
Yet hast thou naught to do to fear her. And true it is that I
saw her and spake with her after thou hadst ridden away.
For she came by the want-ways of the Wood Perilous in the dawn
of the day after I had delivered thee; and in sooth she told
me that she looked either for Death, or the Water of the Well
to end her sorrow."
Then he smiled and said; "As for that which thou sayest,
that she had been meeter for me than thou, I know not this word.
For look you, beloved, she came, and passed, and is gone,
but thou art there and shalt endure."
She stayed, and turned and faced him at that word;
and love so consumed her, that all sportive words failed her;
yea and it was as if mirth and light-heartedness were swallowed up
in the fire of her love; and all thought of other folk departed
from him as he felt her tears of love and joy upon his face,
and she kissed and embraced him there in the wilderness.
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