Child Christopher and Goldilind the Fair | Page 6

and all these my wise men, and I myself,
withal, deem that thou canst do it, and thou alone--nay, hearken: I am
departing, and I would have thee hold my place, and do unto my people
even what I would do if I myself were living; and to my daughter as
nigh to that as may be. I say all this thou mayst do, if thou wilt be as
trusty and leal to me after I am dead, as thou hast seemed to all men's
eyes to have been while I was living. What sayest thou?"
The Earl had hidden his face in the coverlet of the bed while the King
was speaking; but now he lifted up his face, weeping, and said:
"Kinsman and friend and King; this is nought hard to do; but if it were,
yet would I do it."
"It is well," said the King: "my heart fails me and my voice; so give
heed, and set thine ear close to my mouth: hearken, belike my daughter
Goldilind shall be one of the fairest of women; I bid thee wed her to the
fairest of men and the strongest, and to none other."
Thereat his voice failed him indeed, and he lay still; but he died not, till
presently the priest came to him, and, as he might, houselled him: then
he departed.
As for Earl Geoffrey, when the King was buried, and the homages done
to the maiden Goldilind, he did no worse than those wise men deemed
of him, but bestirred him, and looked full sagely into all the matters of
the kingdom, and did so well therein that all men praised his rule
perforce, whether they loved him or not; and sooth to say he was not
much beloved.

CHAPTER IV.
OF THE MAIDEN GOLDILIND.

AMIDST of all his other business Earl Geoffrey bethought him in a
while of the dead King's daughter, and he gave her in charge to a
gentlewoman, somewhat stricken in years, a widow of high lineage, but
not over wealthy. She dwelt in her own house in a fair valley some
twenty miles from Meadhamstead: thereabode Goldilind till a year and
a half was worn, and had due observance, but little love, and not much
kindness from the said gentlewoman, who hight Dame Elinor
Leashowe. Howbeit, time and again came knights and ladies and lords
to see the little lady, and kissed her hand and did obeisance to her; yet
more came to her in the first three months of her sojourn at Leashowe
than the second, and more in the second than the third.
At last, on a day when the said year and a half was fully worn, thither
came Earl Geoffrey with a company of knights and men-at-arms, and
he did obeisance, as due was, to his master's daughter, and then spake
awhile privily with Dame Elinor; and thereafter they went into the hall,
he, and she, and Goldilind, and there before all men he spake aloud and
said:
"My Lady Goldilind, meseemeth ye dwell here all too straitly; for
neither is this house of Leashowe great enough for thy state, and the
entertainment of the knights and lords who shall have will to seek to
thee hither; nor is the wealth of thy liege dame and governante as great
as it should be, and as thou, meseemeth, wouldst have it. Wherefore I
have been considering thy desires herein, and if thou deem it meet to
give a gift to Dame Elinor, and live queenlier thyself than now thou
dost, then mayst thou give unto her the Castle of Greenharbour, and the
six manors appertaining thereto, and withal the rights of wild-wood and
fen and fell that lie thereabout. Also, if thou wilt, thou mayst honour
the said castle with abiding there awhile at thy pleasure; and I shall see
to it that thou have due meney to go with thee thither. How sayest thou,
my lady?"
Amongst that company there were two or three who looked at each
other and half smiled; and two or three looked on the maiden, who was
goodly as of her years, as if with compassion; but the more part kept
countenance in full courtly wise.

Then spake Goldilind in a quavering voice (for she was afraid and
wise), and she said: "Cousin and Earl, we will that all this be done; and
it likes me well to eke the wealth of this lady and my good friend Dame
Elinor."
Quoth Earl Geoffrey: "Kneel before thy lady, Dame, and put thine
hands between hers and thank her for the gift." So Dame Elinor knelt
down, and did homage and obeisance for her new land; and Goldilind
raised her up and kissed her, and bade her sit down beside her, and