ralph and ursula, with the sage and michael-a-dale went their ways, and all was smooth with them, and they saw but few folk, and those mild and lowly. at last, of an afternoon, they saw before them afar off the towers and pinnacles of whitwall, and ralph's heart rose within him, so that he scarce knew how to contain himself; but ursula was shy and silent, and her colour came and went, as though some fear had hold of her. now they two were riding on somewhat ahead of the others, so ralph turned to ursula, and asked what ailed her. she smiled on him and said: "a simple sickness. i am drawing nigh to thy home, and i am ashamed. beyond the mountains, who knew what and whence i was? i was fair, and for a woman not unvaliant, and that was enough. but now when i am coming amongst the baronages and the lineages, what shall i do to hold up my head before the fools and the dastards of these high kindreds? and that all the more, my knight, because thou art changed since yester-year, and since we met on the want-way of the wood perilous, when i bade thee remember that thou wert a king's son and i a yeoman's daughter; for then thou wert but a lad, high-born and beautiful, but simple maybe, and untried; whereas now thou art meet to sit in the kaiser's throne and rule the world from the holy city."
he laughed gaily and said: "what! is it all so soon forgotten, our deeds beyond the mountains? belike because we had no minstrel to rhyme it for us. or is it all but a dream? and has the last pass of the mountains changed all that for us? what then! hast thou never become my beloved, nor lain in one bed with me? thou whom i looked to deliver from the shame and the torment of utterbol, never didst thou free thyself without my helping, and meet me in the dark wood, and lead me to the sage who rideth yonder behind us! no, nor didst thou ride fearless with me, leaving the world behind; nor didst thou comfort me when my heart went nigh to breaking in the wilderness! nor thee did i deliver as i saw thee running naked from the jaws of death. nor were we wedded in the wilderness far from our own folk. nor didst thou deliver me from the venom of the dry tree. yea verily, nor did we drink together of the water of the well! it is all but tales of swevenham, a blue vapour hanging on the mountains yonder! so be it then! and here we ride together, deedless, a man and a maid of whom no tale may be told. what next then, and who shall sunder us?"
therewith he drew his sword from the sheath, and tossed it into the air, and caught it by the hilts as it came down, and he cried out: "hearken, ursula! by my sword i swear it, that when i come home to the little land, if my father and my mother and all my kindred fall not down before thee and worship thee, then will i be a man without kindred, and i will turn my back on the land i love, and the house wherein i was born, and will win for thee and me a new kindred that all the world shall tell of. so help me saint nicholas, and all hallows, and the mother of god!"
she looked on him with exceeding love, and said: "ah, beloved, how fair thou art! is it not as i said, yea, and more, that now lieth the world at thy feet, if thou wilt stoop to pick it up? believe me, sweet, all folk shall see this as i see it, and shall judge betwixt thee and me, and deem me naught."
"beloved," he said, "thou dost not wholly know thyself; and i deem that the mirrors of steel serve thee but ill; and now must thou have somewhat else for a mirror, to wit, the uprising and increase of trouble concerning thee and thy fairness, and the strife of them that love thee overmuch, who shall strive to take thee from me; and then the blade that hath seen the well at the world's end shall come out of his sheath and take me and thee from the hubbub, and into the quiet fields of my father's home, and then shalt thou be learned of thyself, when thou seest that thou art the desire of all hearts."
"ah, the wisdom of thee," she said, "and thy valiancy, and i am become feeble and foolish before thee! what shall i do then?"
he said: "many a time shall it be shown what thou shalt do; but here and now is the highway dry and long, and the plain meads and acres on either hand, and a glimmer of whitwall afar off, and the little cloud of dust about us two in the late spring weather; and the sage and michael riding behind us, and smiting dust from the hard road. and now if this also be a dream, let it speedily begone, and let us wake up in the ancient house at upmeads, which thou hast never seen—and thou and i in each other's arms."
