Nevertheless, she kept this well to herself and received Robin with seeming kindness.

She led him up the winding stone stair to a room which was just beneath the eaves of a high, round tower; but she would not let Little John come with him.
So the poor yeoman turned his feet away from the door of the nunnery, and left his master in the hands of the women.

But, though he did not come in, neither did he go far away; for he laid him down in a little glade near by, where he could watch the place that Robin abided, like some great, faithful dog turned away from the door where his master has entered.
After the women had gotten Robin Hood to the room beneath the eaves, the Prioress sent all of the others away; then, taking a little cord, she tied it tightly about Robin's arm, as though she were about to bleed him.

And so she did bleed him, but the vein she opened was not one of those that lie close and blue beneath the skin; deeper she cut than that, for she opened one of those veins through which the bright red blood runs leaping from the heart.

Of this Robin knew not; for, though he saw the blood flow, it did not come fast enough to make him think that there was anything ill in it.
Having done this vile deed, the Prioress turned and left her cousin, locking the door behind her.