She shrank away from him what she might, but he still held her
wrists; then she spake in a quivering voice, her very lips pale with
fear and wrath: It is well seen that thou art a man of the Red
Knight; and belike thou wouldst do with me as he would. But one
thing I crave of thee, if there is any grain of mercy in thee, that
thou wilt draw thy sword and thrust me through; thou mayst leave
thine hold of me to get at the blade, I will not stir from where I
stand. O! to think that I deemed thee well-nigh a true man.
He dropped her hands now and stood aloof from her, staring at her,
and presently cast himself on the ground, rolling about and tearing
at the grass. She looked on him a moment or two, and then stepped
forward and stooped to him, and touched his shoulder and said: Rise
up, I bid thee, and be a man and not a wild beast.
So in a while he arose, and stood before her hang-dog-like; then she
looked on him pitifully, and said: Fair sir and valiant knight, thou
hast gone out of thy mind for a while, and thus hast thou shamed both
me and thyself; and now thou wert best forget it, and therewithal my
last words to thee.
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