"Slip into bed, child, slip into bed," cried the other; "that's a man at the door."
Isoult, half-dead with fright, once more obeyed. The knocking continued till the door was opened.
"Who are you, in the name of Jesus?" said the woman, trembling.
"Jesus be my witness, I come in His name. I am Brother Bonaccord," said a man without.
"Save you, father," the woman replied, "but you cannot come in this night. There's a naked maid in the room."
Isoult's plight was pitiable. She could do absolutely nothing but stay where she was. She dared not so much as cry out.
"If she is a maid, it is very well," said Brother Bonaccord; "but I am quite sure she is not."
"Heyday, what is this?" cried Falve's mother, highly scandalized.
"Listen to me, Dame Ursula," the friar went on with a wagging finger.
"Your son came with gossip of a marriage he was to make with a certain
Isoult—"
"'Tis so, 'tis so, indeed, father. Isoult la Desirous is her name—a most sweet maid."