Bethink thee, child, there are they that love thee in Upmeads and thereabout, were it but thy gossip, my wife, dame Katherine." Said Ralph: "Master Clement, I thank thee for all that thou hast said, and thy behest, and thy deeds.

Thy rede is good, and in all ways will I follow it save one; to wit, that if I have not found the damsel ere ye turn back, I must needs abide in this land searching for her.

And I pray the pardon both of thee and of thy gossip, if I answer not your love as ye would, and perchance as I should.

Yea, and of Upmeads also I crave pardon.

But in doing as I do, my deed shall be but according to the duty bounden on me by mine oath, when Duke Osmond made me knight last year, in the church of St.Laurence of Upmeads." Said Clement: "I see that there is something else in it than that; I see thee to be young, and that love and desire bind thee in closer bonds than thy knightly oath.