The Wood Beyond the World

by William Morris

  CHAPTER XX: WALTER IS BIDDEN TO ANOTHER TRYST

  So came he into the pillared hall, and there he found the Lady walking toand fro by the high-seat; and when he drew nigh she turned on him, andsaid in a voice rather eager than angry: "What hast thou done, Squire?Why art thou come before me?"

  He was abashed, and bowed before her and said: "O gracious Lady, thoubadest me service, and I have been about it."

  She said: "Tell me then, tell me, what hath betided?"

  "Lady," said he, "when I entered the thicket of thy swooning I foundthere no carcase of the lion, nor any sign of the dragging away of him."

  She looked full in his face for a little, and then went to her chair, andsat down therein; and in a little while spake to him in a softer voice,and said: "Did I not tell thee that some enemy had done that unto me? andlo! now thou seest that so it is."

  Then was she silent again, and knit her brows and set her teeth; andthereafter she spake harshly and fiercely: "But I will overcome her, andmake her days evil, but keep death away from her, that she may die manytimes over; and know all the sickness of the heart, when foes be nigh,and friends afar, and there is none to deliver!"

  Her eyes flashed, and her face was dark with anger; but she turned andcaught Walter's eyes, and the sternness of his face, and she softened atonce, and said: "But thou! this hath little to do with thee; and now tothee I speak: Now cometh even and night. Go thou to thy chamber, andthere shalt thou find raiment worthy of thee, what thou now art, and whatthou shalt be; do on the same, and make thyself most goodly, and thencome thou hither and eat and drink with me, and afterwards depart whitherthou wilt, till the night has worn to its midmost; and then come thou tomy chamber, to wit, through the ivory door in the gallery above; and thenand there shall I tell thee a thing, and it shall be for the weal both ofthee and of me, but for the grief and woe of the Enemy."

  Therewith she reached her hand to him, and he kissed it, and departed andcame to his chamber, and found raiment therebefore rich beyond measure;and he wondered if any new snare lay therein: yet if there were, he sawno way whereby he might escape it, so he did it on, and became as themost glorious of kings, and yet lovelier than any king of the world.

  Sithence he went his way into the pillared hall, when it was now night,and without the moon was up, and the trees of the wood as still asimages. But within the hall shone bright with many candles, and thefountain glittered in the light of them, as it ran tinkling sweetly intothe little stream; and the silvern bridges gleamed, and the pillars shoneall round about.

  And there on the dais was a table dight most royally, and the Ladysitting thereat, clad in her most glorious array, and behind her the Maidstanding humbly, yet clad in precious web of shimmering gold, but withfeet unshod, and the iron ring upon her ankle.

  So Walter came his ways to the high-seat, and the Lady rose and greetedhim, and took him by the hands, and kissed him on either cheek, and sathim down beside her. So they fell to their meat, and the Maid servedthem; but the Lady took no more heed of her than if she were one of thepillars of the hall; but Walter she caressed oft with sweet words, andthe touch of her hand, making him drink out of her cup and eat out of herdish. As to him, he was bashful by seeming, but verily fearful; he tookthe Lady's caresses with what grace he might, and durst not so much asglance at her Maid. Long indeed seemed that banquet to him, and longeryet endured the weariness of his abiding there, kind to his foe andunkind to his friend; for after the banquet they still sat a while, andthe Lady talked much to Walter about many things of the ways of theworld, and he answered what he might, distraught as he was with thethought of those two trysts which he had to deal with.

  At last spake the Lady and said: "Now must I leave thee for a little, andthou wottest where and how we shall meet next; and meanwhile disport theeas thou wilt, so that thou weary not thyself, for I love to see theejoyous."

  Then she arose stately and grand; but she kissed Walter on the mouth ereshe turned to go out of the hall. The Maid followed her; but or ever shewas quite gone, she stooped and made that sign, and looked over hershoulder at Walter, as if in entreaty to him, and there was fear andanguish in her face; but he nodded his head to her in yea-say of thetryst in the hazel-copse, and in a trice she was gone.

  Walter went down the hall, and forth into the early night; but in thejaws of the porch he came up against the King's Son, who, gazing at hisattire glittering with all its gems in the moonlight, laughed out, andsaid: "Now may it be seen how thou art risen in degree above me, whereasI am but a king's son, and that a king of a far country; whereas thou arta king of kings, or shalt be this night, yea, and of this very countrywherein we both are."

  Now Walter saw the mock which lay under his words; but he kept back hiswrath, and answered: "Fair sir, art thou as well contented with thy lotas when the sun went down? Hast thou no doubt or fear? Will the Maidverily keep tryst with thee, or hath she given thee yea-say but to escapethee this time? Or, again, may she not turn to the Lady and appeal toher against thee?"

  Now when he had spoken these words, he repented thereof, and feared forhimself and the Maid, lest he had stirred some misgiving in that youngman's foolish heart. But the King's Son did but laugh, and answerednought but to Walter's last words, and said: "Yea, yea! this word ofthine showeth how little thou wottest of that which lieth betwixt mydarling and thine. Doth the lamb appeal from the shepherd to the wolf?Even so shall the Maid appeal from me to thy Lady. What! ask thy Lady atthy leisure what her wont hath been with her thrall; she shall think it afair tale to tell thee thereof. But thereof is my Maid all whole now byreason of her wisdom in leechcraft, or somewhat more. And now I tellthee again, that the beforesaid Maid must needs do my will; for if I bethe deep sea, and I deem not so ill of myself, that other one is thedevil; as belike thou shalt find out for thyself later on. Yea, all iswell with me, and more than well."

  And therewith he swung merrily into the litten hall. But Walter went outinto the moonlit night, and wandered about for an hour or more, and stolewarily into the hall and thence into his own chamber. There he did offthat royal array, and did his own raiment upon him; he girt him withsword and knife, took his bow and quiver, and stole down and out again,even as he had come in. Then he fetched a compass, and came down intothe hazel-coppice from the north, and lay hidden there while the nightwore, till he deemed it would lack but little of midnight.