But say, why do you run so fast, and what has happened to you, Thomas, that your arm is bloody and you carry a sword in your hand ?' 'I have no breath to speak yet,' I answered.

'Come back to the hawthorns and I will tell you.' 'No, I must be wending homewards.

I have been among the trees for more than an hour, and there is little bloom upon them.' 'I could not come before, Lily.

I was kept, and in a strange manner.
Also I saw bloom as I ran.' 'Indeed, I never thought that you would come, Thomas,' she answered, looking down, 'who have other things to do than to go out maying like a girl.

But I wish to hear your story, if it is short, and I will walk a little way with you.' So we turned and walked side by side towards the great pollard oaks, and by the time that we reached them, I had told her the tale of the Spaniard, and how he strove to kill me, and how I had beaten him with my staff.