ater, and it was very strong and
potent with spices and powerful herbs of divers sorts. And when that bain
was prepared, Sir Tristram undressed and entered the bath, and the Queen
and the Lady Belle Isoult were in the adjoining chamber which was his
bed-chamber.

[Sidenote: The Queen of Ireland beholds Sir Tristram's sword] Now whilst
Sir Tristram was in that bath, the Queen and Belle Isoult looked all about
his chamber. And they beheld the sword of Sir Tristram where it lay, for he
had laid it upon the bed when he had unlatched the belt to make himself
ready for that bath. Then the Queen said to the Lady Belle Isoult, "See
what a great huge sword this is," and thereupon she lifted it and drew the
blade out of its sheath, and she beheld what a fair, bright, glistering
sword it was. Then in a little she saw where, within about a foot and a
half from the point, there was a great piece in the shape of a half-moon
broken out of the edge of the sword; and she looked at that place for a
long while. Then of a sudden she felt a great terror, for she remembered
how even such a piece of sword as that which had been broken off from that
blade, she had found in the wound of Sir Marhaus of which he had died. So
she stood for a while holding that sword of Sir Tristram in her hand and
looking as she had been turned into stone. At this the Lady Belle Isoult
was filled with a sort of fear, wherefore she said, "Lady, what ails you?"
The Queen said, "Nothing that matters," and therewith she laid aside the
sword of Sir Tristram and went very quickly to her own chamber. There she
opened her cabinet and took thence the piece of sword-blade which she had
drawn from the wound of Sir Marhaus, and which she had kept ever since.
With this she hurried back to the chamber of Sir Tristram, and fitted that
piece of the blade to the blade; and lo! it fitted exactly, and without
flaw.

[Sidenote: The Queen assails Sir Tristram] Upon that the Queen was seized
as with a sudden madness; for she shrieked out in a very loud voice,
"Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!" saying that word three times. Therewith she
snatched up the sword of Sir Tristram and she ran with great fury into the
room where he lay in his bath. And she beheld him where he was there all
naked in his bath, and therewith she rushed at him and lashed at him with
his sword. But Sir Tristram threw himself to one side and so that blow
failed of its purpose. Then the Queen would have lashed at him again