The Sage held his peace, and Ralph still kept silence; and now of these men all the younger ones had their eyes upon Ursula.

After a while Ralph spake and said:  “O elder, and ye folk of the People of Abundance, true it is that your Lady who is dead loved me, and it is through her that I am become a Friend of the Well.  Now meseemeth though ye have lost your Lady, whom ye so loved and worshipped, God wot not without cause, yet I wot not why ye now cry out for a master, since ye dwell here in peace and quiet and all wealth, and the Fathers of the Thorn are here to do good to you.  Yet, if ye will it in sooth, I will be called your Lord, in memory of your Lady whom ye shall not see again.  And as time wears I will come and look on you and hearken to your needs:  and if ye come to fear that any should fall upon you with the strong hand, then send ye a message to me, Ralph of Upmeads, down by the water, and I will come to you with such following as need be.  And as for service, this only I lay upon you, that ye look to the Castle and keep it in good order, and ward it against thieves and runagates, and give guesting therein to any wandering knight or pilgrim, or honest goodman, who shall come to you.  Now is all said, my masters, and I pray you let us depart in peace; for time presses.”

Then all they (and this time women as well as men) cried out joyfully:  “Hail to our lord! and long life to our helper.”  And the women withal drew nearer to him, and some came close up to him, as if they would touch him or kiss his hand, but by seeming durst not, but stood blushing before him, and he looked on them, smiling kindly.

But the old man laid his hand on his knee and said:  “Lord, wouldst thou not light down and enter thy Castle; for none hath more right there now than thou.  The Prior of the Thorn hath told us that there is no lineage of the Lady left to claim it; and none other might ever have claimed it save the Baron of Sunway, whom thou hast slain.  And else would we have slain him, since he slew our Lady.”

Ralph shook his head and said:  “Nay, old friend, and new vassal, this we may not do:  we must on speedily, for belike there is work for us to do nearer home.”

“Yea, Lord,” said the carle, “but at least light down and sit for a while under this fair oak-tree in the heat of the day, and eat a morsel with us, and drink a cup, that thy luck may abide with us when thou art gone.”

Ralph would not naysay him; so he and all of them got off their horses, and sat down on the green grass under the oak:  and that people gathered about and sat down by them, save that a many of the women went to their houses to fetch out the victual.  Meanwhile the carles fell to speech freely with the wayfarers, and told them much concerning their little land, were it hearsay, or stark sooth:  such as tales of the wights that dwelt in the wood, wodehouses, and elf-women, and dwarfs, and such like, and how fearful it were to deal with such creatures.  Amongst other matters they told how a hermit, a holy man, had come to dwell in the wood, in a clearing but a little way thence toward the north-west.  But when Ralph asked if he dwelt on the way to the ford of the Swelling Flood, they knew not what he meant; for the wood was to them as a wall.