But Ralph spake: "Nay, Lady, the damsel whom I seek is not my beloved, but my friend.

My beloved is dead." The Queen looked on him smiling kindly, yet was her face somewhat troubled.

She said: "Master chapman, thy time here is not over long for all that thou hast to do; so we give thee leave to depart with our thanks for bringing a friend to see us.

But this knight hath no affairs to look to: so if he will abide with us for a little, it will be our pleasure." So Clement made his obeisance and went his ways.

But the Queen bade Ralph sit before her, and tell her of his griefs, and she looked so kindly and friendly upon him that the heart melted within him, and he might say no word, for the tears that brake out from him, and he wept before her; while she looked on him, the colour coming and going in her face, and her lips trembling, and let him weep on.