She looked on him sadly, and his many thoughts tongue-tied him a while; but at last he said:  “Must thou verily go on this quest?” “Ah,” she said, “now since I have seen thee and spoken with thee again, all need there is that I should follow it at once.”

Then they both kept silence, and when she spoke again her voice was as if she were gay against her will.  She said:  “Here am I come to these want-ways, and there are three roads besides the one I came by, and I wot that this that goeth south will bring me to the Burg of the Four Friths; and so much I know of the folk of the said Burg that they would mock at me if I asked them of the way to the Well at the World’s End.  And as for the western way I deem that that will lead me back again to the peopled parts whereof I know; therefore I am minded to take the eastern way.  What sayest thou, fair lord?”

Said Ralph:  “I have heard of late that it leadeth presently to Hampton under the Scaur, where dwelleth a people of goodwill.”

“Who told thee this tale?” said she.  Ralph answered, reddening again, “I was told by one who seemed to know both of that folk, and of the Burg of the Four Friths, and she said that the folk of Hampton were a good folk, and that they of the Burg were evil.”

The damsel smiled sadly when she heard him say ‘She,’ and when he had done she said:  “And I have heard, and not from yesterday, that at Hampton dwelleth the Fellowship of the Dry Tree, and that those of the fellowship are robbers and reivers.  Nevertheless they will perchance be little worse than the others; and the tale tells that the way to the Well at the World’s End is by the Dry Tree; so thither will I at all adventure.  And now will I say farewell to thee, for it is most like that I shall not see thee again.”

“O, maiden!” said Ralph, “why wilt thou not go back to Bourton Abbas?  There I might soon meet thee again, and yet, indeed, I also am like to go to Hampton.  Shall I not see thee there?”

She shook her head and said:  “Nay, since I must go so far, I shall not tarry; and, sooth to say, if I saw thee coming in at one gate I should go out by the other, for why should I dally with a grief that may not be amended.  For indeed I wot that thou shalt soon forget to wish to see me, either at Bourton Abbas or elsewhere; so I will say no more than once again farewell.”

Then she came close to him and put her hands on his shoulders and kissed his mouth; and then she turned away swiftly, caught up her cloak, and gat lightly into the saddle, and so shook her reins and rode away east toward Hampton, and left Ralph standing there downcast and pondering many things.  It was still so early in the summer morning, and he knew so little what to do, that presently he turned and walked back to his lair amongst the hazels, and there he lay down, and his thoughts by then were all gone back again to the lovely lady whom he had delivered, and he wondered if he should ever see her again, and, sooth to say, he sorely desired to see her.  Amidst such thoughts he fell asleep again, for the night yet owed him something of rest, so young as he was and so hard as he had toiled, both body and mind, during the past day.