“Yes, and I’d sooner be killed than married to Ahoshta. So e on.”
“Oh you are unkind,” said Lasaraleen. “And I in such a state！”
But in the end she had to give in to Aravis. She led the way doweps they had already desded, and along another corridor and so finally out into the open air. They were now in the palace garden which sloped down in terraces to the city wall. The moon shone brightly. One of the drawbacks about adventures is that when you e to the most beautiful places you are often too anxious and hurried to appreciate them; so that Aravis （though she remembered them years later） had only a vague impression of grey lawns, quietly bubbling fountains, and the long black shadows of cypress trees.
When they reached the very bottom and the wall ro frowning above them, Lasaraleen was shaking so that she could not unbolt the gate. Aravis did it. There, at last, was the river, full of reflected moonlight, and a little landing stage and a few pleasure boats.
“Good-bye,” said Aravis, “and thank you. I’m sorry if I’ve been a pig. But think what I’m flying from！”
“Yes, and I’d sooner be killed than married to Ahoshta. So e on.”
“Oh you are unkind,” said Lasaraleen. “And I in such a state！”
But in the end she had to give in to Aravis. She led the way doweps they had already desded, and along another corridor and so finally out into the open air. They were now in the palace garden which sloped down in terraces to the city wall. The moon shone brightly. One of the drawbacks about adventures is that when you e to the most beautiful places you are often too anxious and hurried to appreciate them; so that Aravis （though she remembered them years later） had only a vague impression of grey lawns, quietly bubbling fountains, and the long black shadows of cypress trees.
When they reached the very bottom and the wall ro frowning above them, Lasaraleen was shaking so that she could not unbolt the gate. Aravis did it. There, at last, was the river, full of reflected moonlight, and a little landing stage and a few pleasure boats.
“Good-bye,” said Aravis, “and thank you. I’m sorry if I’ve been a pig. But think what I’m flying from！”
“Oh Aravis darling,” said Lasaraleen. “Won’t you ge your mind? Now that you’ve en what a very great man Ahoshta is！”
“Great man！” said Aravis. “A hideous grovelling slave who flatters when he’s kicked but treasures it all up and hopes to get his own back by egging on that horrible Tisroc to plot his son’s death. Faugh！ I’d sooner marry my father’s scullion than a creature like that.”