Then she fell to speech in a voice which at first was somewhat hoarse
and broken, but cleared as she went on, and she said:
'There sittest thou, O Alderman of Burgdale! Is Face-of-god thy son
anywhere nigh, so that he can hear me?'
But Iron-face wondered at her word, and said: 'He is beside thee, as
he should be.' For indeed Face-of-god was touching her, shoulder to
shoulder. But she looked not to the right hand nor the left, but
said:
'Hearken, Iron-face! Chief of the House of the Face, Alderman of the
Dale, and ye also, neighbours and goodmen of the Dale: I am a woman
called the Bride, of the House of the Steer, and ye have heard that I
have plighted my troth to Face-of-god to wed with him, to love him,
and lie in his bed. But it is not so: we are not troth-plight; nor
will I wed with him, nor any other, but will wend with you to the
war, and play my part therein according to what might is in me; nor
will I be worser than the wives of Shadowy Vale.'
Face-of-god heard her words with no change of countenance; but Iron-
face reddened over all his face, and stared at her, and knit his
brows and said:
'Maiden, what are these words? What have we done to thee? Have I
not been to thee as a father, and loved thee dearly? Is not my son
goodly and manly and deft in arms? Hath it not ever been the wont of
the House of the Face to wed in the House of the Steer? and in these
two Houses there hath never yet been a goodlier man and a lovelier
maiden than are ye two.
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