d Warwickshire? Was _he_ the Sir Thomas Malory who had
compiled and translated and written _Le Morte d'Arthur_? Almost
nothing about the man's life was known, and probably the little that
was known had been assumed. He _could_ have popped up from nowhere,
made his fortune through foreknowledge, and been knighted. He _could_
have been a reformed time-thief stranded in the fifteenth century.

But if he, Mallory, was Malory, how in the world was he going to get
five hundred chapters of semi-historical data together and pass them
off as _Le Morte d'Arthur_?

Suddenly he understood everything.

* * * * *

Going over to where Rowena was still standing in front of the
telewindow, he said, "I'll bet you know no end of stories about the
doings of the knights of the Table Round."

"La! Sir Thomas. Ever I saw day of my life I have heard naught else in
the court of my father."

"Tell me," Mallory said, "how did this Round Table business begin? Or,
better yet, how did the Grail business begin? We can take up the Round
Table business later on."

She thought for a moment. Then, "List, fair sir, and I will say ye: At
the vigil of Pentecost, when all the fellowship of the Round Table
were come unto Camelot and there heard their service, and the tables
were set ready to the meat, right so entered into the hall a full fair
gentlewoman on horseback, that had ridden full fast, for her horse was
all besweated. Then she there alit, and came before the king and
saluted him; and he said: Damosel, God thee bless. Sir, said she, for
God's sake say me where Sir Launcelot is. Yonder ye may see him, said
the king. Then she went unto Launcelot and said: Sir Launcelot, I
salute you on King Pelles' behalf, and I require you to come on with
me hereby into a forest. Then Sir Launcelot asked her with whom she
dwelled. I dwell, said she, with King Pelles. What will ye with me?
said Launcelot. Ye shall know, said she, when ye--"

"That'll do for now," Mallory interrupted. "We'll come back to it as
soon as I get stocked up on paper and ink. Scheherazade," he added.

"Scheherazade, Sir Thomas? I wot not--"

He leaned down and kissed her. "There's no need for you to wot," he
said. Probably, he reflected, he would have to do a certain amount of
research in order to record the happenings that had ensued his and
Rowena's departure, and undoubtedly said research would result
ironically in the recording of the true visits