about noon
And therewith she put up her face to him , and he kissed her cheek without touching her otherwise , and then he kissed her mouth ; and she knew that he was both timorous and sad , and she was ashamed to look on him , or to speak to him any more , lest she should behold him ashamed ; so she but said : Farewell , friend , till to-morrow at least . And therewith her foot was in the stirrup , and anon she sat in the saddle , and her palfrey was ambling briskly on the way she would . LITTLE is to tell of Birdalone 's journey unto the knoll above the Black Valley of the Greywethers . It was about noon when she came there , and had met but few folk on the way , and those few were husbandmen , or carlines , or maidens wending afield betimes not far from the Castle of the Quest . Now she sat on her horse and looked down into the dale and its stony people once more , and saw nought stirring save three ravens who , not far off , were flapping about from stone to stone of the Greywethers , and croaking loud to each other as if some tidings were toward . She watched their play for a little , and then gat off her horse , and sat down on the grass of the knoll , and drew forth her victual , and ate and drank ; for she deemed it happier to eat and drink there than in the very jaws of the Black Valley . Soon was her dinner done , and then she got to her saddle again , and rode slowly down to the little stream , and along it toward the valley and the gates of the mountains , which she had been fain to pass through ; but now , as had happed with her that morning when she was boun for the Sending Boat , somewhat she hung back from the adventure , and when she lacked but some five score yards from the very dale itself , she lighted down again , and let her way-beast bite the grass , while she sat down and watched the rippling water .