say sooth, this riding through the fair land likes me well. He sighed and said, yet slowly: Well, for my part I would that the five days were fifty. Why? she said heedlessly. He reddened and said: I must needs tell thee since thou askest me. It is because I have got used to seeing these men and thy Carline about thee; neither does it irk me to see the folk that give us guesting gazing on thee or speaking to thee. But when we come to Brookside it will be all other than that; for there will be the folk all about, and some belike will make friends with thee; and there will be my mother. And look you, all and each of these folk shall have as much part and lot in thee as I shall have. Now, art thou angry that I have said this? Nay, she said, and knew not what more to say. And she looked at him covertly and saw grief and torment in him, and she was sorry for him. But within herself she said: Woe 's me! and how long it shall be belike ere I meet my beloved!
