The Wood Beyond the World

a fair-faced man, yellow-haired, tall and strong; rather wiser than foolisher than young men are mostly wont; a valiant youth, and a kind; not of many w

of the land, a head-man of the greatest of the Lineages of Langton, and a captain of the Porte; he wa

nifest tokens, that his fairness was not so much to her but that she must seek to the foulness of one worser than he in all ways; wherefore his rest departed from him, whereas he hated her for her untruth and her hatred of him; yet would the sound of her voice, as she came and went in the house, make his heart beat; and the sight of

that the world was wide and he but a young man. So on a day as he sat with his father alone, he spake to him and said: "Father, I was on the quays eve

the Katherine, will they warp out of the haven

Walter, "and this it is, that I would de

er, son?" said

er, "for I am ill at ease at h

there was strong love between them; but at last he said: "Well, son,

ather, then shalt tho

u shalt have thine own way herein, she shall no longer abide in my house. Nay, but it were for the strife t

more than needs must be, lest, so doin

in for a while; then he said:

that thou go not away empty-handed; the skipper of the Katherine is a good man and true, and knows the seas well; and my servant Robert the Low, who is clerk of the lading, is trustworthy and wise, and as myself in all matters that look towards chaffer. The Katherine is

s about his business, and there was no more