Part 23 (1/2)

”Yes, my good lord, I know it,” she said. ”If I had but let our Lancelot tell the truth, perhaps he would not have been wounded.

You would have called on his kinsmen to cease.”

For many days the king and Guinevere waited in deep anxiety for news of Sir Lancelot. Meantime, Sir Gawain rode forth and sought for the great knight in vain. At last he came to the castle of Astolat, where he was welcomed by the lord and Sir Torre and the fair Elaine. He told them the result of the tournament, and how the stranger knight had won. They showed him Sir Lancelot's s.h.i.+eld.

”Ah!” said Elaine, when he had told them the name of the unknown knight, ”I knew that he must be great.”

Sir Gawain guessed by the expression of her beautiful face that she loved Sir Lancelot. So he said:

”Fair maiden, when he returns here for his s.h.i.+eld, give him this diamond, which is the prize he won. Perhaps he will prize it the more because you put it into his hand.”

Then Sir Gawain bade them farewell and rode off, lightly singing.

When he told Arthur what he had done, the king said:

”You should have done as I bade you, Gawain. Sir Lancelot deceived me about his disguise, and you have disobeyed me. The kingdom will surely fail if the king and his rules are not honored. Obedience is the courtesy due to kings.”

Meanwhile the fair Elaine went to her father and said:

”Dear father, let me go and seek the wounded Sir Lancelot and my brother.”

”Nay,” said the lord, ”it is not a fitting thing for a young maiden like you to seek a wounded knight. He is not your lover.

It cannot be.”

”I would give him his diamond,” she said, ”and since he is so sorely wounded, I would take care of him. It is not fitting, my father, but I cannot live unless I know where he is and how he does.”

Then, because he loved his child very much and had never refused any request she made of him, the old lord let her go in care of Sir Torre. The two rode for a long time, until at last, near Camelot, they met Sir Lavaine. Elaine ran up to him and cried:

”Lavaine, take me to Sir Lancelot.”

Sir Lavaine was much astonished that Elaine knew the name of the stranger knight. He was glad to see her, because he thought she could help his friend. Sir Lancelot seemed glad to see her, too, and the beautiful maiden cared for him so tenderly that the old hermit said he never could have recovered without her nursing.

When he was well enough, they all rode to the castle of Astolat.

There Sir Lancelot remained for a few days; then he took his s.h.i.+eld and prepared to return to Camelot. Before he went he asked Elaine if he could not do something for her in return for her care of him.

She grew very pale and then she said:

”I am going to say something which I should not. I love you. Take me with you to Camelot.”

Sir Lancelot said very gently:

”My poor little maiden, if I had meant to take a wife, I should have wedded earlier. All the court knows that I love only the king and the queen. You do not really love me. Some day you will marry a young knight, and then I shall give you many castles and much land as a dowry.”

”I will have nothing of all that,” said Elaine.

She turned away and climbed up to the tower, while her father said to Sir Lancelot:

”I pray you, be discourteous in some way so that she will cease to love you. Such love is madness.”