So they turned up into the orchard: and now was Viridis of good
cheer, and Aurea no less; but Atra lagged behind, and as she went,
some passion took her, she knew not wherefore; her bosom swelled, her
shoulders heaved therewith, and she wept.
CHAPTER IX. HOW BIRDALONE CAME TO THE ISLE OF THE YOUNG AND THE OLD
All went well with Birdalone when she had left the Isle of Increase
Unsought, much as it had on her first voyage, save that now she was
both clad and victualled, and her heart, if yet it harboured fear,
was also full of new and strange hope; and oft, even as she sat there
amidst the waste of waters, she wondered what new longing this was
which wrought so sweet a pain in her, that it made her cheeks burn,
and her eyes dim, and her hands and her limbs restless. And then
would she set her mind to her friends and their errand, and would
hope and pray for them; but again would she fall to picture to
herself what manner of men they were who were so sore longed for by
those three beauteous women; and she deemed that since they were thus
desired, they must be fairer even than her friends of the isle; and
again the nameless longing overtook her, and held her till it wearied
her into sleep.
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