He knew not what to answer, and held his peace; and she spake again:
"Whither wouldest thou, what seekest thou?"

Then answered Hallblithe: "THE HOUSE OF THE UNDYING."

None answered, and the other women all fell away from him at once,
and went about their business hither and thither through the hall.
But the old crone took him by the hand, and led him up to the dais,
and set him next to the midmost high-seat. Then she made as if she
would do off his war-gear, and he would not gainsay her, though he
deemed that foes might be anear; for in sooth he trusted in the old
carle that he would not bewray him, and moreover he deemed it would
be unmanly not to take the risks of the guesting, according to the
custom of that country.

So she took his armour and his weapons and bore them off to a shut-
bed next to that wherein lay the ancient man, and she laid the gear
within it, all save the spear, which she laid on the wall-pins above;
and she made signs to him that therein he was to lie; but she spake
no word to him. Then she brought him the hand-washing water in a
basin of latten, and a goodly towel therewith, and when he had washed
she went away from him, but not far.

This while the other women were busy about the hall; some swept the
floor down, and when it was swept strawed thereon rushes and handfuls
of wild thyme: some went into the buttery and bore forth the boards
and the trestles: some went to the chests and brought out the rich
hangings, the goodly bankers and dorsars, and did them on the walls:
some bore in the stoups and horns and beakers, and some went their