The Lady Gibourc with Rainouart in the kitchen
"Willingly," answered Rainouart, "the more so that I can hardly keep my hands off these scoundrels."
He followed Gibourc to her room, and then she questioned him about his childhood.
"Have you brothers or sisters?" asked she.
"Yes," he answered, "beyond the sea I have a brother who is a King, and a sister who is more beautiful than a fairy," and as he spoke he bent his head. Something in her heart told Gibourc that this might be her brother, but she only asked again, "Where do you come from?"
"Lady," he replied, "I will answer that question the day I come back from the battle which William shall have won, thanks to my aid."
Gibourc kept silence, but she opened a chest and drew from it a white breastplate that had belonged to her uncle, which was so finely wrought that no sword could pierce it; likewise a helmet of steel and a sword that could cut through iron more easily than a scythe cuts grass. "My friend," she said, "buckle this sword to your side. It may be useful to you."
Rainouart took the sword and drew it from its scabbard, but it seemed so light that he threw it down again. "Lady," he cried, "what good can such a plaything do me? But with my staff between my hands there is not a Pagan that can stand up against me, and if one escapes then let Count William drive me from his door."