They did not see that I came, at first; and before they heeded me, I heard a few words.
"I will have nought to say to a man who is ashamed to own his own name," quoth Lady Sybilla.
"It was not shame, but policy," answered Alan.
"Ay—to escape from me."
Alan was silent for a moment, and then said—
"I have learnt to prize what once I had no thought of."
Then Sybilla saw me, and flushed.
"Ay—your name, you mean," she said to Alan, whose face was away from me. "Go to—win your name back by some deeds of arms, and then you may be worth speaking with."
With that she passed him and came towards me, beginning to hum some old tune or other lightly. As for Alan, he bided where she left him, not caring to follow.
"Come away," she said to me; "your comrade is in an evil temper."