Thus it was that an hour hence they went forth furnished royally. High of heart, they took the road again. A night’s rest and a square meal are wonder-working things. For a time they were no longer the hunted fugitives of the previous day. Girt by the spirit of youth and braced by good cheer, they struck across the country into the Derbyshire woods. Here their path was spread with primroses and all manner of spring delights. The bursting buds caressed their faces, the odor of wild flowers was in their nostrils, a thousand golden-throated voices filled their ears.
In the high-hearted freedom of the moment they forgot their tragic peril. This was life in its rapture, life in its fulness. Soon Gervase began to sing.
In the merry month of May,
In a morn by break of day,
Forth I walked by the wood-side
When as May was in his pride.
The green aisles re-echoed his voice. Presently they rested on a moss-grown bank with the great river flowing far beneath them.
There I spied all alone
Phillida and Coridon.
They looked in the ardent eyes of one another utterly heedless of what was to come. In this joyous morning of spring they were determined to forget the horror that held them in thrall. Let the morrow bring what it might, in this glorious hour they were determined to rejoice. For the moment let the moment suffice! They would give themselves up to the rapture of this little hour.