Then said he:
"This book was mine heritage at Swevenham or ever I
became wise, and it came from my father's grandsire:
and my father bade me look on it as the dearest of possessions;
but I heeded it naught till my youth had waned, and my manhood
was full of weariness and grief. Then I turned to it,
and read in it, and became wise, and the folk sought to me,
and afterwards that befell which was foredoomed.
Now herein amongst other matters is written of that which ye
desire to know, and I will read the same to you and expound it.
Yet were it not well to read in this book under a roof,
nay, though it be as humble and innocent as this.
Moreover, it is not meet that ye should hearken to this wisdom
of old times clad as ye are; thou, knight, in the raiment
of the manslayer, with the rod of wrath hanging at thy side;
and thou, maiden, attired in the garments of the tyrant,
which were won of him by lying and guile."
Then he went to another ark, and took from it two bundles,
which he gave, the one to Ralph, the other to Ursula, and said:
"Thou, maiden, go thou into the inner chamber here and doff
thy worldly raiment, and don that which thou wilt find wrapped
in this cloth; and thou, knight, take this other and get thee
into the thicket which is behind the house, and there do the like,
and abide there till we come to thee."
So Ralph took the bundle, and came out into the thicket and unarmed him,
and did on the raiment which he found in the cloth, which was but a long gown
of white linen, much like to an alb, broidered about the wrists and the hems
and collar with apparels of gold and silk, girt with a red silk girdle.
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