and thy father and mother, and thine own folk and thine home.
But now here is the letter which thou shalt give to the Lord
of Utterbol if thou meet him; and mayhappen he is naught so evil
a man as the tale of him runs."

She gave him the letter into his hands, and spake again:
"And now I have this to say to thee, if anything go amiss with thee,
and thou be nigh enough to seek to me, come hither, and then,
in whatso plight thou mayst be, or whatsoever deed thou mayst
have done, here will be the open door for thee and the welcome
of a friend."

Her voice shook a little as she spake, and she was silent again,
mastering her trouble. Then she said: "At last I must
say this to thee, that there may no lie be between us.
That damsel of whom thou spakest that she was but thy friend,
and not thy love--O that I might be thy friend in
such-wise! But over clearly I see that it may not be so.
For thy mind looketh on thy deeds to come, that they shall
be shared by some other than me. Friend, it seemeth strange
and strange to me that I have come on thee so suddenly,
and loved thee so sorely, and that I must needs say farewell
to thee in so short a while. Farewell, farewell!"

Therewith she arose, and once more she took his hand in hers,
and led him to the door. And he was sorry and all amazed:
for he had not thought so much of her before, that he might see
that she loved him; and he thought but that she, being happy
and great, was kind to him who was hapless and homeless.
And he was bewildered by her words and sore ashamed that for all