And further, as you shall think,
there did be that lovely One with me alway; and did make sweet quips
unto me, and talkt and did laugh, and oft did come into singing; for she
did be so sweetly joyed that I was in life and did mend so proper. And afterward, she went off from me a little, to her toilet; but I to
ask that she be so swift as might be, and she to promise very merry; and
she came back in a little while, and her hair to be in a lovely cloud
about her shoulders, and her pretty feet yet to be bared from her bath,
which she had in a pool beyond some bushes; and she to say that I did be
so impatient a man, that she to be forced that she do the half of her
dressing with me; but truly, she came thiswise only because she to know
how I did delight in her thus, and to watch the way that she set up her
abundance of hair; and she to be hungry also that she be with me, and to
love me that I watch her, even while that there did be oft a little and
quaint stirring of shyness in her dear heart. And I had her to come beside me, and to sit anigh to my hand; and I made
presently that I did scold her, because that she had no proper care to
her pretty feet; and I bid her to set her feet toward me, that I look
the more close at them. And she to be a pretty rogue, and did think I to
mean to kiss them--and truly not to think alway wrong--but I then to
have another planning; for I had pluckt a hair very sly from her head,
and she but to have said an Oh! to me, and to have thought no more. But,
indeed, when that she gave her feet to me, I held them so strong as I
might, and I bound her pretty toes together with the hair; and surely
she did be a captive unto me, and we to laugh, as that we to be both
children. And afterward she stole back her feet from me; but, in verity,
I knew that she had a wondrous heed that she brake not the hair that
bound her; but did sit beside me bound in that pretty way; but yet to
hide from me that she did not brake the hair. And she then to do her hair upon her head, very lovely; and afterward,
I put up my hands, and took it down again; and she then to kiss me and
to ask how that she should ever have it proper upon her head, if that I
did alway so tease her. And she then to take her hair, and did set the abundance of it upon both
sides of my face, and then to kiss me, as I did look up at her, from out
of so much beauty. And afterward she cut a lock of my hair, and a lock from her own dear
head; and she did plait the two locks together, so that our hair did
blend and be together; and afterward she hid it in her bosom. But I did
be then out of content, and would have done likewise, only that it did
so weary me to uphold my hands; and she to cut a second lock from my
head, and a second tress of her own most lovely hair; and she made me to
kiss the hair that did be from her, and she then to kiss the hair that
did be from me; and afterward, she did plait them together, and gave
them to me. And I set the hair, for that time, under the great bandage
that went over my heart; and truly, she did be then the one that lackt
content; for she to say that the second plaiting did be kist, and the
first to lack; but I to refuse to exchange; so that we made up a
quarrelling, and did presently have to be kist, unto forgiveness. And,
truly, have you not likewise known such glad foolishness, when that you
were in the love-days. And she then to make me to be quiet, and to keep my hands downward from
her hair, because that the uplifting did prove overmuch to me; and she
took my great hands then, and did threaten how dreadful she use me, if
that I be not humble. And truly, I said that I did be an humble man; and
she then to hold my hands with but one small one; and surely, her hand
did be so small that she not able to hold me, save by the thumbs. And
she then with her free hand to cover mine eyes, so that I might not see;
and whilst that she did hold me thus so utter helpless, she to kiss me
very dainty and impudent upon the mouth; and afterward she loost me, and
did be demure. And we did be then silent a space; and presently, I put forth my hand,
that did be very great, yet to be gone white and to tremble, because
that I did lack so utter of blood. And the Maid to know what I did mean,
and she clenched her hands into two fists, and set them both into my one
hand, and surely they did be little fists; and I then to be happy; for
this did be a wondrous pleasure alway unto me; and she to have her lids
a little downward upon her eyes, and to be quietly happy. And, truly,
how I mind it all so plain. And afterward, I did plague her very gentle that she to be all a-lack,
if that she did try to use her hands to aught, because that they did be
so small. And she in a moment to have her two arms very dear about my
neck, and did kiss me with an utter love and tenderness upon the mouth,
and afterward went from me, lest that she have me to overset myself. And I did then to make her to sit by me, and I did tell her a tale how
that a young man did once live in the olden days, and did meet with the
One Maid Upon All The Earth. And how that they loved and did be married,
and she to die, and of the utter and desperate madness of grief that
nigh destroyed the man; and how that he sudden to wake into the future
of the world, in a New Time, and did come to learn that His Own did also
to live in that Time. And he then to make that he find her; and did
truly come unto her. And how she did be different in her beauty; but yet
to be utter lovely. And the man did hold an utter reverence to the Maid,
that had been his wife in the olden dream-days, so that his reverence of
love did live in him like a constant pain and anguish of sweetness and
trouble, and of holy thoughts that did be bred of her lovely
companionship, and of his memories.... But, in truth, I gat not further
in the tale than this; for Mine Own did have come sudden into weeping,
and had gotten to her knees, and did hold my hand against her breast,
and did put her hand gentle upon my lips. And, in a moment, she to
whisper somewhat through her tears; and there to be dear Motherhood
within her face; and a sudden shining of Memory in her eyes, that had
been near dreadful, only that it did seem to be to her as that she were
part dreaming. And the strange and solemn pain did come also unto me
through the part-open gateways of my Memory. And I to remember very
clear and with an anguish in that moment. And I told Mine Own how that
the babe had gone onward, after that the Beloved had died. And there did
be then an utter quiet upon us. And lo! sudden the Maid did bend unto me, and I to take her into mine
arms, out of the vague dreamings of her Memory-dreams. But, ere she did
be come outward entire from the haze of the Past, she to try to set
somewhat into words concerning this memory-vision of the babe; but
someways to be strangely dumb. And I did be silent likewise, because of
all those things that did be between us forever and forever.