Page:Wood Beyond the World.djvu/242

 '''CHAPTER XXXIV. NOW COMETH THE MAID TO THE KING'''.

HEN all they bowed before the King, and he spake again: What is that noise that I hear without, as if it were the rising of the sea on a sandy shore, when the south-west wind is blowing.

Then the elder opened his mouth to answer; but before he might get out the word, there was a stir without the chamber door, and the throng parted, and lo! amidst of them came the Maid, and she yet clad in nought save the white coat wherewith she had won through the wilderness, save that on her head was a garland of red roses, and her middle was wreathed with the same. Fresh and fair she was as the dawn of June; her face bright, red-lipped, and clear-eyed, and her cheeks flushed with hope and love. She went straight to Walter where he sat, and lightly put away with her hand the elder