She looked about her, and saw in all the fair meadow neither man nor
woman, nor draught-beast nor milch-beast, nought but the little
creatures of the brake and the bent-grass, which were but as the
blossoms thereof; and the birds running in the herbage or singing
amidst the tree-boughs.
Then she thought that she must needs go forward, or belike her errand
would not speed; that the Sending Boat might not obey her, unless she
saw through the adventure to the end; so she went on toward the house
quaking.
Soon was she at the porch of the white palace, and had seen no man
nor heard any voice of men; much she marvelled, despite her dread, at
the beauty of the said house, and the newness thereof; for it was as
one flower arisen out of the earth, and every part of it made the
beauty of the other parts more excellent; and so new it was, that it
would have seemed as if the masons thereof had but struck their
scaffold yesterday, save that under the very feet of the walls the
sweet garden flowers grew all uncrushed.
Now comes Birdalone through the porch unto the screens of the great
hall; and she stopped a little to recover her breath, that she might
be the quieter and calmer amongst the great folk and mighty whom she
looked to find therein.
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