“What came of it?” said Ralph, “did they come back, or any of them?” “I wot not,” said Richard, “for I was weary of Swevenham after that, so I girt myself to a sword and laid a spear upon my shoulder and went my ways to the Castle of the Waste March, sixty miles from Swevenham town, and the Baron took me in and made me his man:  and almost as little profit were in my telling thee again of my deeds there, as there was in my doing them:  but the grey tower of Swevenham I have never seen again till this hour.”

Said Ralph:  “Now then it behoveth me to go to Swevenham straightway:  wilt thou come with me? it seemeth to be but some four miles hence.”

Richard held his peace and knit his brows as if pondering the matter, and Ralph abided till he spake:  so he said:  “Foster-son, so to call thee, thou knowest the manner of up-country carles, that tales flow forth from them the better if they come without over much digging and hoeing of the ground; that is, without questioning; so meseems better it will be if I go to Swevenham alone, and better if I be asked to go, than if I go of myself.  Now to-morrow is Saturday, and high market in Whitwall; and I am not so old but that it is likeliest that there will be some of my fellows alive and on their legs in Swevenham:  and if such there be, there will be one at the least in the market to-morrow, and I will be there to find him out:  and then it will go hard if he bring me not to Swevenham as a well-beloved guest; and when I am there, and telling my tidings, and asking them of theirs, if there be any tales concerning the Well at the World’s End working in their bellies, then shall I be the midwife to bring them to birth.  Ha?  Will it do?”

“Yea,” said Ralph, “but how long wilt thou be?” Said Richard:  “I shall come back speedily if I find the land barren; but if the field be in ear I shall tarry to harvest it.  So keep thou thy soul in patience.”  “And what shall I do now?” said Ralph.  “Wear away the hours,” said Richard.  “And to begin with, come back within the gates with me and let us go look at thy brother’s booth in the market-place:  it is the nethermost of a goodly house which he is minded to dwell in; and he will marry a wife and sit down in Whitwall, so well he seemeth like to thrive; for they have already bidden him to the freedom of the city, and to a brother of the Faring-Knights, whereas he is not only a stirring man, but of good lineage also:  for now he hideth not that he is of the Upmeads kindred.”

CHAPTER 14

Ralph Falleth in With Another Old Friend