noon
And the said witch was clad full fair , and had laid by her sloth and stupid pride , as meseemed ; and her limbs were grown rounder and sleeker , and her skin fairer , so that to them that knew her not she might well seem to be a goodly woman . Now they sat to meat as my man hath told you , and then departed from the hall , and the witch also . But after a while she came back again and loosed us , and grimly bade us go with her , and needs must we , though we could not so much as see our own feet upon the floor . And she set us to tasks about the house , and stood by while we toiled for her , and mocked us not without stripes , and in all ways was as rough and cruel and hard with us as she had been smooth and debonair to our lords ; but after noon she brought us back and chained us to our pillars again . And when the evening came and the banquet was , it was we who were the unseen players of the string-play ; and we might play no other melody than what the witch bade us ; else belike , could we have held converse , we might have played such tunes as would have smitten the hearts of our loves , and told them that we were anigh . To make a short story of it , thus did she day by day , and no comfort or converse might we sisters have of each other , or of aught else save the sight of our beloved ones , and a glimmer of hope therewith . And , forsooth , for as grievously as my heart was wrung by the yearning of me for my love , yet was it a joy unto me to think that he went there desiring me , and that whom he desired was not the poor wretched creature chained there in her nakedness , with her body spoiled by torment and misery , but the glad maiden whom he had so often called fair and lovesome .