Pagina 823 van 1116

Presently the handmaid came to him and said, "Speak with my

lady." "Begone, O my good girl," replied he, "there shall be no

more dealings between me and thy lady." The handmaid returned to

her mistress and told her what my brother had said and presently

she put her head out of the window, weeping and saying, "Why, O

my beloved, are there to be no more dealings 'twixt me and thee?"

But he made her no answer. Then she wept and conjured him,

swearing that all which had befallen him in the mill was not

sanctioned by her and that she was innocent of the whole matter.

When he looked upon her beauty and loveliness and heard the

sweetness of her speech, the sorrow which had possessed him

passed from his heart; he accepted her excuse and he rejoiced in

her sight.