Furthermore, as I
loved thee when I saw thee first, for thy youth, and thy fairness,
and thy kindness and thy valiancy, so now I rejoice that all this
shall endure so long in thee, as it surely shall."
Then the voice ceased, but still the image stood before him awhile,
and he wondered if she would speak again, and tell him aught
of the way to the Well at the World's End; and she spake again:
"Nay," she said, "I cannot, since we may not tread the way together
hand in hand; and this is part of the loss that thou hast had of me;
and oh! but it is hard and hard." And her face became sad and distressful,
and she turned and departed as she had come.
Then he knew not if he awoke, or if it were a change in his dream;
but the chamber became dark about him, and he lay there thinking
of her, till, as it seemed, day began to dawn, and there was some little
stir in the world without, and the new wind moved the casement.
And again the door opened, and someone entered as before; and this
also was a woman: green-clad she was and barefoot, yet he knew at once
that it was not his love that was dead, but the damsel of the ale-house
of Bourton, whom he had last seen by the wantways of the Wood Perilous,
and he thought her wondrous fair, fairer than he had deemed.
And the word came from her: "I am a sending of the woman whom thou
hast loved, and I should not have been here save she had sent me."
Then the words ended, while he looked at her and wondered if she
also had died on the way to the Well at the World's End.
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