Sarah advanced with him. She touched Aspatria slightly, and said: “Hush! a moment. This is my friend Sir Ulfar Fenwick, Ria.”
Ria lifted her eyes sweetly to his eyes; she bowed with the grace and benignity of a queen, and adroitly avoided speech by turning the melody into song:—
“I never shall forget
The mountain maid that once I met
By the cold river’s side.
I met her on the mountain-side;
She watched her herds unnoticed there:
‘Trim-bodiced maiden, hail!’ I cried.
She answered, ‘Whither, Wanderer?
For thou hast lost thy way.’”