Then grew Sir Bors as white as shee, And never answer answered hee. _O sweet Marye!_ A cruel stound didde pierce his brest, Yet soothly laid hee lance in rest, And parted instant on his quest. _O dear Marye!_ V. And whilom found the robber's hold, And freed the comlye knight and bold. _O sweet Marye!_ And sette him on his own good steed (Though inwardly his wounds did bleed), And stript his hauberke for his need, That he might be in knight-like weed. _O dear Marye!_ VI. And ran before him in the mire, That hee might fitlye have a squire. _O sweet Marye!_ Then when they reacht the lilye maid, 'Behold thy comlye knight!' he said, And saw her chaunge from white to redde, Then, smiling, at her feet fell dedde. _O dear Marye!_ As Sir Aimand hummed his song, a secret joy came to his heart, for he felt that although his plight was sad, being distasteful to his lady for his country's sake, at least no 'comlye knight and bold' of any other nation, Saxon or Breton, had forestalled him in her regard; of that he felt doubly assured, for, in the first place, if it had been so, he felt convinced that Eadgyth would have frankly avowed it, when he begged her permission to show himself at the tourney as her knight; and secondly, the expression he had surprised on her face when he had refused to take the prize bracelet. Suddenly these dreams were interrupted. The soldier banished the lover. Sir Aimand checked his horse, and stiffened into rigidity, like a pointer scenting game. Trot! trot! trot! The beat of a horse's tread leaving the camp at a rapid pace sounded through the darkness. Sir Aimand struck spurs into his own gallant destrier, and dashed forward in the direction he judged the horseman was taking, endeavouring to intercept him by cutting off an angle. The trot changed into a gallop, and though the Norman knight even caught sight of a dark figure hurrying through the gloom, he soon found that his steed was no match for the one he was pursuing; but Judith's messenger had a narrow escape. Returning to the camp, De Sourdeval questioned the sentries; but, finding that the horseman had issued from the quarter occupied by the Northumbrians in the retinue of Earl Waltheof, over which he had no jurisdiction, he was forced unwillingly to let the matter rest.