The three stayed a long while together before the fire, father, mother, and son, without a word spoken, for the Silent, moaning all the while, could not bear his defeat, and the lady Gonde wept and prayed; and Sir Roel, sad and ashamed, hid his face.
XXIV. How the damosel Magtelt made a good resolution.
Magtelt, before she lay down on her bed, prayed, but not aloud. And her face was hard set with anger.
And having undressed she lay down in her bed, tugging at her breast with her finger-nails from time to time, as if she were fighting for breath.
And her breathing was as if she were in agony.
For she was bitter sad and out of heart.
But she did not weep.
And she heard the high wind, forerunner of snow, lifting over the forest, and roaring like a stream in spate after heavy rain.
And it tossed against the window glass dried leaves and branches, which beat on the pane like dead men’s finger-nails.