Quoth Agatha:  “She is in no such evil case; for my lady hateth her not as yet, or but little; and, which is far more, my lord loveth her after his fashion, and withal as I deem feareth her; for though she hath utterly gainsaid his desire, he hath scarce so much as threatened her.  A thing unheard of.  Had it been another woman she had by this time known all the bitterness that leadeth unto death at Utterbol.”  Ralph paled and he scowled on her, then he said:  “And how knowest thou all the privity of the Lord of Utterbol? who telleth thee of all this?” She smiled and spake daintily:  “Many folk tell me that which I would know; and that is because whiles I conquer the tidings with my wits, and whiles buy it with my body.  Anyhow what I tell thee is the very sooth concerning this damsel, and this it is:  that whereas she is but in peril, she shall be in deadly peril, yea and that instant, if thou go to Utterbol, thou, who art her lover...”  “Nay,” said Ralph angrily, “I am not her lover, I am but her well-willer.”  “Well,” quoth Agatha looking down and knitting her brows, “when thy good will towards her has become known, then shall she be thrown at once into the pit of my lord’s cruelty.  Yea, to speak sooth, even as it is, for thy sake (for her I heed naught) I would that the lord might find her gone when he cometh back to Utterbol.”

“Yea,” said Ralph, reddening, “and is there any hope for her getting clear off?” “So I deem,” said Agatha.  She was silent awhile and then spake in a low voice:  “It is said that each man that seeth her loveth her; yea, and will befriend her, even though she consent not to his desire.  Maybe she hath fled from Utterbol.”

Ralph stood silent awhile with a troubled face; and then he said:  “Yet thou hast not told me the why and wherefore of this play of thine, and the beguiling me into fleeing from the camp.  Tell it me that I may pardon thee and pass on.”

She said:  “By thine eyes I swear that this is sooth, and that there is naught else in it than this:  My lady set her love, when first she set her eyes upon thee—­as forsooth all women must:  as for me, I had not seen thee (though I told my lady that I had) till within this hour that we met in the wood.”

She sighed therewith, and with her right hand played with the rent raiment about her bosom.  Then she said:  “She deemed that if thou camest a mere thrall to Utterbol, though she might command thy body, yet she would not gain thy love; but that if perchance thou mightest see her in hard need, and evilly mishandled, and mightest deliver her, there might at least grow up pity in thee for her, and that love might come thereof, as oft hath happed aforetime; for my lady is a fair woman.  Therefore I, who am my lady’s servant and thrall, and who, I bid thee remember, had not seen thee, took upon me to make this adventure, like to a minstrel’s tale done in the flesh.  Also I spake to my lord and told him thereof; and though he jeered at my lady