as he went:

"This have I done to shame thee, wicked king. If it do grieve thee, and thy boasted knights should care to follow, I am Taulat Lord of Rugimon; and each passing year, on this same day, will I return to do thee the like scorn."

Good Arthur drooped his head, enraged, yet sad; but then the squire rose, and knelt before the king:

"Sire," he said, "now give me knightly arms, that I may follow up that haughty lord who casts dishonour on this royal court."

"Friend," exclaimed Quex at this, "your courage will be higher when you're drunk. Sit yourself down again, and drink another bout; the heart will be the merrier, and you can better floor a knight with wine than with a sharp-edged sword, however stout!"

The squire to this responded not a word, out of his duty for the worthy king; but for such cause, Quex had for his speech paid dear. Arthur, however, gave his anger vent, and thus exclaimed:

"Wilt thou, then, Quex, ne'er hold that biting tongue until I've driven thee from out my court? What has emboldened thee to speak thus vilely, and to a stranger who a suit prefers? Canst thou not keep within thee all the spite, the envy, wicked words, and slanderous thoughts with which thou art swelling o'er?"

"My lord," the squire said, "pray let him have his say; little heed I the flings of his forked tongue, for which I will a noble vengeance seek. Vile word ne'er sullieth honour. Let me rather have a suit of arms, to follow him who now has issued hence; for I do feel I shall not eat at ease till he and I have met in deadly fight."

The monarch courteously replied:

"My friend, I willingly will give thee steed, good arms, and knightly spurs; for thou dost ask these gifts as squire of gentle birth. But thou art all too young to fight with him who now has left this hall. Not four among the knights of my Hound Table can dare to meet his blows, or touch him in the field. Leave, then, this care to others; I should grieve to lose at once so stout and brave a squire."

"Since, sire, you think me stout, and call me brave, 'tis wrongfully or but to jeer you wish to stay my fighting; but in that you'll not succeed save you refuse to grant the boon erewhile you promised me;—and should a king forget his promise made, gone are his lustre and his courtesy."

The monarch answered:

"Friend, I yield me to thy ardent wish; thou shalt be armed a knight."

He then commanded two attendant squires at once go seek his armour, lance, a fine and tempered shield, the casque, the sharp-edged sword, the spurs, and horse of price in full caparison; then, when they brought the arms and horse, he caused the squire to put the hauberk on, he buckled his right spur, girded his sword upon the youth's left flank, and having kissed him gently on the mouth, he asked of him his name.

"Sire, in the land where I was born my name is Jaufry, son of Dovon."

The king, on hearing him speak thus, sighed heavily, and said, while tears were in his eye:

"Ah! what a knight and lord of mark was this same Dovon! He was of my table and my court. A brave knight and a learned: never had he superior in arms. None were held stouter or more dread in fight. May God, if He so will it, grant him grace; since for my sake he died! An archer pierced his heart with a steel bolt, while he a keep held out on my domain in Normandy."

Meanwhile a squire brought Jaufry a bay steed. The young knight placed his hand upon the bow, and leaped upon the horse, all armed as he then stood, without the use of stirrup; then called he for his shield and lance, consigned the king to God, and having taken leave of all the rest, he galloped from that hall.

CHAPTER II. ESTOUT DE VERFEIL.

The charger, which was fleet and fair to view, started off like an arrow from its bow. So that, as Jaufry left the castle-gates, he hoped he yet should overtake the knight; and therefore cried aloud to two men on the way:

"Good fellows, if you can, tell me the road just taken by the lord who left the castle yonder even now. If naught prevent you, point me out the way."

One of those men replied:

"Speak you of him whose armour was so bright?"

"The same," quoth Jaufry.

"He is on before; you start too late, sir knight, to catch him up."

"By Heaven!" murmured Jaufry, much aggrieved, "he cannot flee so far, or sink so deep, but I will reach him. I'll seek him the world through, where land and sea are found, and will discover his retreat even beneath the earth!"

This said, he held his course; and spurring, came to a broad causeway where fresh prints of horses' hoofs appeared upon the dust.

"Methinks," said Jaufry, "that a knight ere-while hath passed this way: so I will follow up this selfsame road while thus the trail is seen."

Putting his horse into an ambling pace, he rode on all that day without a town or castle being met. At eventide he still continued on, when a loud cry, followed by din of arms and clash of steel on helm, suddenly rose from out the heavy shade.

Jaufry spurred readily towards the spot, and cried:

"Who are ye, lords, who at this hour do fight? Reply, since eyes of man cannot behold you."

But no one replied; and when, as fits a bold and venturous man, he reached the place whence came the clashing noise, the fight was over and the din had ceased. Whilst then he listened, seeing naught, and at the silence wondering, there rose from out the shade deep sighs and moans; when, stooping forward, he made out a knight so sadly hurt the soil was bathed in blood.

"Knight," cried Jaufry to the corpse, "it grieves me not to know thy slayer, or whether thou wert wrong or whether right: thou art now dead; but if I can, I even will learn why, and by whose hand.

"Knight," he exclaimed, "speak, and inform me for what, and by whom, thou hast been so sorely used." The wounded man could not e'en stir his lips or move a limb; his arms grew stiff; and, with two fearful groans, he yielded up the ghost.

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"Knight," then cried Jaufry to the corpse, "it grieves me not to know thy slayer, or whether thou wert wrong or whether right: thou now art dead; but if I can, I even will learn why and by whose hand." He then departed, and resumed his way, now on the trot and now at ambling pace, stopping at intervals to bend his ear and give a look around. For some time nothing met his ear or eye; but, after having ridden for a space, a noise of battle once again assailed him. Steel, wood, and iron met with such dread force, it seemed as though the thunder vexed the air, and that this din proclaimed the bursting storm. At once, then, to the side from whence it came Sir Jaufry turned his horse; and, with his shield about his neck, his lance in rest prepared, he spurred with ardour on, for, in his mood, it seemed as though he ne'er should learn who slew the knight and who were they that fought. On, then, to that affray he hotly came; but to behold, stretched stiff upon the ground, a knight all armed, whose casque and head beside had by a single blow been cloven to the teeth, while his steel hauberk was all red with gore. Jaufry his