Page:Wood Beyond the World.djvu/251

 '''CHAPTER XXXVI. OF WALTER AND THE MAID IN THE DAYS OF THE KINGSHIP'''.

ONG it was, indeed, till the women, by the King’s command, had brought the Maid to the King’s chamber; and he met her, and took her by the shoulders and kissed her, and said: Art thou not weary, sweetheart? Doth not the city, and the thronging folk, and the watching eyes of the great ones. . . doth it not all lie heavy on thee, as it doth upon me?

She said: And where is the city now? is not this the wilderness again, and thou and I alone together therein?

He gazed at her eagerly, and she reddened, so that her eyes shone light amidst the darkness of the flush of her cheeks.

He spake trembling and softly, and said: Is it not in one matter better than the wilderness? is not the fear gone, yea, every whit thereof?