e Lady Elaine,
asking nothing but the privilege of serving her; demanding only the right
to give, to sacrifice, to shield. And at last she knew._

_The doubting in her heart was for ever stilled and in its place was a
great peace. There was an unspeakable tenderness and a measureless
compassion, so wide and so deep that it sheltered all the world. For,
strangely enough, the love of the many comes first through the love of the
one._

_The Lady Elaine did not need to ask whether he loved her, for,
unerringly, she knew. Mated past all power of change, they two were one
henceforward, though seas should roll between. Mated through suffering as
well, for, in this new bond, as the Lady Elaine dimly perceived, there was
great possibility of hurt. Yet there was no end or no beginning; it simply
was, and at last she knew._

_At length, she slept. When she awoke the morning was fair upon the
mountains, but still he paced back and forth before her door. Rising, she
bathed her face in the cool water he had brought her, braided her glorious
golden hair, changed her soiled habit for a fresh robe of white satin
traced with gold, donned her red embroidered slippers, and stepped out
into the sunrise, shading her eyes with her hand until they grew
accustomed to the dawn._

_"Good morrow, Princess," he said. "We----"_

_Of a sudden, he stopped and fled like a wild thing into the forest, for
by her eyes, he saw what was in her heart, and his hot words, struggling
for utterance, choked him. "At last," he breathed, with his clenched hands
on his breast; "at last--but no, 'tis another dream of mine that I dare
not believe."_

_His senses reeled, for love comes not to a man as to a woman, but rather
with the sound of trumpets and the glare of white light. The cloistered
peace that fills her soul rests seldom upon him, and instead he is stirred
with high ambition and spurred on to glorious achievement. For to her,
love is the end of life; to him it is the means._

_The knights thought it but another caprice when the Lady Elaine gave
orders to return to the Castle of Content, at once, and by the shortest
way--all save one of them. With his heart rioting madly through his
breast, he knew, but he did not dare to look at Elaine. He was as one long
blinded, who suddenly sees the sun._

_So it was that though he still served her, he rode no longer by her side,
and Elaine, hurt at first, at length understood, and smiled because of her
underst