But to-morrow we shall seek wider ere I ride on my way."
"Yea," said Bull, "and I will be one in the search."
So then they gat them to their sleeping-berths, and Ralph,
contrary to his wont, lay long awake, pondering these things;
till at last he said to himself that this woman, whom he called Dorothea,
was certainly alive, and wotted that he was seeking her.
And then it seemed to him that he could behold her through
the darkness of night, clad in the green flowered gown as he had
first seen her, and she bewailing her captivity and the long
tarrying of the deliverer as she went to and fro in a great chamber
builded of marble and done about with gold and bright colours:
and or ever he slept, he deemed this to be a vision of what then was,
rather than a memory of what had been; and it was sweet to
his very soul.
CHAPTER 27
Clement Tells of Goldburg
Now when it was morning he rose early and roused Bull and the captain,
and they searched in divers places where they had not been the night before,
and even a good way back about the road they had ridden yesterday,
but found no tidings. And Ralph said to himself that this was naught
but what he had looked for after that vision of the night.
So he rode with his fellows somewhat shamefaced that they had seen
that sudden madness in him; but was presently of better cheer than
he had been yet. He rode beside Clement; they went downhill speedily,
and the wilderness began to better, and there was grass at whiles,
and bushes here and there.
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