up the street and through the gate; and the guest sat hearkening to
the sound of her footsteps till it died out, and there was nought to
be heard save the far-off murmur of the market, and the chirrup of
the little one on the floor.

Then arose the guest and took up the child from the floor, who kicked
and screamed, and craved her mother as her broken speech might; but
the alien spake softly to her, and said: Hush, dear one, and be
good, and we will go and find her; and she gave her therewith a
sugar-plum from out of her scrip. Then she came out of doors, and
spake sweetly to the little one: See now this pretty way-beast. We
will ride merrily on him to find thy mother.

Then she laid the child in the pannier with a soft cushion under, and
a silk cloth over her, so that she lay there happily. Then she took
her ass's rein and went her ways over the waste toward Evilshaw; for,
as ye may deem, where the houses and the street ended, the beaten way
ended also.

Quietly and speedily she went, and met but three men on the way; and
when these saw her, and that she was making for Evilshaw, they turned
their heads away, each one, and blessed themselves, and went past
swiftly. Not one sought to stay her, or held any converse with her,
and no foot she heard following after her. So in scarce more than
the saying of a low mass she was in amongst the trees, with her ass
and her wares and her prey.

No stay she made there, but held forward at her best before the night
should fall upon her. And whatsoever might be told concerning the
creatures that other folk had met in Evilshaw, of her it must needs