This befel in April, and toward the latter days of it Osberne came
before Sir Godrick and would talk with him apart, and Sir Godrick
received him with all kindness, and spake to him privily, and asked
him what he would. Said Osberne: "Lord and dear friend, thou art now
become a mighty lord far greater than most kings. So busy have our two
lives been with deeds that might not be set aside, that now for a long
time we two have had but little converse together, such as friends
desire. Yet nevertheless through it all I have felt thy love unto me,
as mine unto thee, wherefore this word that I must say irks me sorely,
to wit that now at last we must presently part."
Said Sir Godrick: "If I am become a mighty ruler, thou hast become a
warrior such that I well think the worlds holds none other so mighty;
and true it is that I love thee no worse for all the hard and
troublous days. And hard and troublous have they been forsooth; so
that oft have I bethought me of that old man the king of the kine, and
his welcome and his bidding, in the wide green valley by the river
whereby we passed when we were wending to Longshaw that first time,
though well I wot that earth has no such refuge for me. I say thou art
great, and I love thee; wherefore thou hast a right to make thy
choice, and least of all would I balk thee in thy desire. Belike we
may meet again. Now wilt thou tell me what thou wilt do?" Said
Osberne: "With a good will. For this is true, lord, that having been
now five years amongst all sorts of folk, and some of them being such
as might tell me some tidings of what I seek, I have had no tidings,
and now needs must I say that lost is lost. But first, before I give
all up, I will go to Longshaw and abide there, and hang about the Wood
for one month, to give me one last chance; and then if nought befal, I
shall ride straight to my folk in the Dale beside the Sundering Flood,
and there shall I live and die in such content as I may. And I do thee
to wit, my friend, that the picture of the grey bents and the long
houses, and the sheep and beasts going to and fro, and the few folk of
the stead, and the hall within its shining black timbers, all this
comes before me and softens my heart. For hast thou not noted how
bitter and surly I have grown in these latter days?"
"I have seen thee sad," said Sir Godrick.
"Nay," said Osberne, "it is worse than that; but let it be. Well now I
shall tell thee another thing that hath got hold of me, and thou wilt
think it wild folly belike. But this it is: When I am in my own Dale
again, then the first morning when I arise I shall hie me straight to
that old trysting-place, and look across the Sundering Flood; and then
it may be that a miracle of God will betide, and that I shall see my
maiden there in her old place, and then shall we be no more utterly
disunited, as though each for each we were neither of us in the
world."
Said Sir Godrick: "This is a hope of no great things, nor is it like
to come about. Were it well for this to leave thy fellows and thy
friends and all the fame of thine that shall be?"
Osberne laughed. "Ah yes," he said, "some deal I know it now, that
fame; when we draw together before the foemen, and our men cry out,
'The Red Lad! the Red Lad!' in no faltering voice, and even therewith
the foeman's ranks quaver, as the trees of the wood when the wind
comes up from the ground amongst them; and then I ride forward with
Boardcleaver in my fist, and the arrows fly away about me for fear,
and the array opens before me, and we plunge in and find nought there,
and the rout goes down the green meadows. Yea, so it is, and many deem
it fair. But then comes the quiet of the night, and my comrades are as
though they were dead, and my praisers are voiceless, and I am alone;
and then meseems it is I that have been overthrown and thwarted, and
not thine enemies and mine, my friend. Nay, let me go back to my folk,
and the land that I know and that endures before me when others have
faded out. There will I abide whatso may come to me." Then he said:
"Moreover there is this last month at Longshaw; who knows what may
there betide? I shall keep my eyes and ears open I promise thee."
"Ah!" said Sir Godrick, "but beware, Red Lad, beware! Thou knowest how
much hatred thou hast drawn upon thee for thy dealings with the
rascaile of the Wood. Be sure that traps will be laid for thee, and
look to it that thou walk not into one! And now I will say to thee
farewell! It may be many a long day ere I see thy face again; and yet
methinks I shall. And now I tell thee, that hitherto I have had more
than enough gain out of thee, and scarce enough of joy. Maybe in days
to come it shall be otherwise."
So they kissed and departed each from each. And Osberne made no
farewells to anyone else, and said that he was for Longshaw, and
should abide there a month or so. And thus he rode his ways.