Jack reached out to return the embrace but caught only air, for she’d darted back as quick as any defensing-master. "I swear before God that you, Jack Shaftoe, shall never again look on my face, nor hear my voice, until the day you die." Hastily then, before tears came, she turned to the King, who made a little gesture meaning that she was permitted to leave. She curtseyed, spun, and got out of the room as if it were on fire.