Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Well at the World's End, Vol. 2: A Tale
Scarce then had his horse stepped out, ere there came a woman running out of the thicket before him and made toward him over the lawn. So he gat ofi his horse at once and went to meet her, leading his horse; and as he drew nigh he could see that she was in a sorry plight; she had gathered up her skirts to run the better, and her legs and feet were naked the coif was gone from her head and her black hair streamed out behind her her gown was rent about the shoulders and bosom, so that one sleeve hung tattered, as if by the handling of some one.
So she ran up to him crying out: Help, knight, help us! And sank down therewith at his feet panting and sobbing. He stooped down to her, and raised her up, and said in a kind voice: What is amiss, fair damsel, that thou art in such a plight; and what may I for thine avail? Doth any pursue thee, that thou ?eest thus?
She stood sobbing awhile, and then took hold of his two hands and said: 0 fair lord, come now and help my lady for as for me, since I am with thee, I am safe.
Yea, said he, Shall I get to horse at once? And therewith he made as if he would move away from her; but she still held his hands, and seemed to think it good so to do, and she spake not for a while but gazed earnestly into his face. She was a fair woman, dark and sleek and lithe for in good sooth she was none other than Agatha, who is afore told of.
Now Ralph is somewhat abashed by her eagerness, and lets his eyes fall before hers; and he cannot but note that despite the brambles and briars of the wood that she had run through, there were no scratches on her bare legs, and that her arm was unbruised where the sleeve had been rent off.
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