[Nurumaiel]

'Oh!' said Earcwen, blushing. 'I don't know if I'm very good at singing, but if it would oblige you I could think of something.' She paused, and regarded him thoughtfully, and hopefully, for a moment, and then said, 'Sir, do you really think I have a way with children?' When he nodded, her face fell into a happy smile. 'I'm so pleased!' she cried. 'I am very glad to hear it, for... for I do love children.'

There was a silence, at least on the part of Rochadan and Earcwen, for Andhun was still singing, and Sallie was doing her best to sing with him, but she did not know the words very well. When he finished, Sallie looked up and asked him to sing it again, and he laughed, saying, 'Sallie, my voice is becoming lost from singing so much! I'm not used to it, for it was a rare time when my master wouldn't grow upset at my singing.'

'I will sing for you,' said Earcwen, 'at the request of your father. I have thought of a song.' And she began to sing a sweet little song about a lassie who sat all alone by her home every day, weeping that no young lad wanted to marry her. Earcwen's voice was by no means a beautiful voice, but she carried the tune well, and the emotion that thrilled in each note of the song was lovely to hear, and she seemed immersed in what she was singing, so much that she almost seemed to be the girl of the song herself.

'And as I sat there without joy,
sorry for my chances poor
I saw upon the road a boy
and I did not weep anymore.
For fair and noble was the lad,
as he stood there smiling on me,
and in grey-brown he was clad,
and his smile was quick, and his laugh was free.'

And her head tilted to one side, and a happy, mischievous look came to her eyes, and her right shoulder lifted to touch her cheek, as if something delightful thrilled her, something she did not want to tell anyone. She finished the song, and it ended that the noble lad married the weeping girl, and she became happy and dancing, and bore many bonny babies, and was nevermore sorrowful for all her days. And when she finished she did not look at her audience, nor did she speak, but she continued to look delighted and pleased, and then, with a little sigh, shaking herself to bring herself back to the present time, she turned to Rochadan and said, 'You asked for the favour of a song, good sir; I hope the song was pleasing enough to you and to the children.'