Egwina looked at the women as they passed. Finally, at the end of the line, there came one whom she regarded attentively.
“This, my lord gerefa,” spake she, “is the one who gave it me.”
The reeve called the woman to him and administered the oath.
“State, woman,” said he, “when and where thou didst give the harp to the maiden.”
The woman looked at him in surprise.
“Dread lord, I wot not thy meaning.”
“Didst thou not follow after the maiden, and give her a harp?”
“Nay; I know not what thou meanest,” declared the woman.
“Knowest thou not the maiden? Tell if thou hast even spoken with her.”
“I saw the maiden in the hall of Oswald the thegn,” deposed she. “For two nights and a day did she abide therein, and when there was wassail she sang for the glee. On the morning of the third day did she bid us good-by and wended her way hence; whither, my lord, I wot not. Neither wot I more of her.”