Nevertheless he did as she bade him, and sat at the board and
ate, while she leaned forward on the arm of her chair and spake to
him in friendly wise. And he wondered as she spake that she knew so
much of him and his: and he kept saying to himself: 'She drew me
hither; wherefore did she so?'
But she said: 'Gold-mane, how fareth thy father the Alderman? is he
as good a wright as ever?'
He told her: Yea, that ever was his hammer on the iron, the copper,
and the gold, and that no wright in the Dale was as deft as he.
Said she: 'Would he not have had thee seek to the Cities, to see the
ways of the outer world?'
'Yea,' said he.
She said: 'Thou wert wise to naysay that offer; thou shalt have
enough to do in the Dale and round about it in twelve months' time.'
'Art thou foresighted?' said he.
'Folk have called me so,' she said, 'but I wot not. But thy brother
Hall-face, how fareth he?'
'Well;' said he, 'to my deeming he is the Sword of our House, and the
Warrior of the Dale, if the days were ready for him.'
'And Stone-face, that stark ancient,' she said, 'doth he still love
the Folk of the Dale, and hate all other folks?'
'Nay,' he said, 'I know not that, but I know that he loveth as, and
above all me and my father.
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