noon
Farewell , Michael ! all good go with thee for thine wholesome redes . '' So then Michael gave them farewell , and rode his ways to Swevenham , going hastily , as one who should hurry away from a grief . But the three held on their way to Whitwall , and it was barely noon when they came to the gate thereof on a Saturday of latter May , It was a market-day , and the streets were thronged , and they looked on the folk and were fain of them , since they seemed to them to be something more than aliens . The folk also looked on them curiously , and deemed them goodly , both the old man and the two knights , for they thought no otherwise of Ursula than that she was a carle . But now as they rode , slowly because of the crowd , up Petergate , they heard a cry of one beside them , as of a man astonished but joyful ; so Ralph drew rein , and turned thither whence the cry came , and Ursula saw a man wide-shouldered , grey-haired , blue-eyed , and ruddy of countenance -- a man warrior-like to look on , and girt with a long sword . Ralph lighted down from his horse , and met the man , who was coming toward him , cast his arms about his neck , and kissed him , and lo , it was Richard the Red .