and
bark, leapt the sharp stakes and, having come beneath the pine, threw
them into the clear spring; they floated light as foam down the stream
to the women's rooms; and Iseult watched for their coming, and on
those evenings she would wander out into the orchard and find her
friend. Lithe and in fear would she come, watching at every step for
what might lurk in the trees observing, foes or the felons whom she
knew, till she spied Tristan; and the night and the branches of the
pine protected them.

And so she said one night: "Oh, Tristan, I have heard that the castle
is faery and that twice a year it vanishes away. So is it vanished now
and this is that enchanted orchard of which the harpers sing." And as
she said it, the sentinels bugled dawn.

Iseult had refound her joy. Mark's thought of ill-ease grew faint; but
the felons felt or knew which way lay truth, and they guessed that
Tristan had met the Queen. Till at last Duke Andret (whom God shame)
said to his peers:

"My lords, let us take counsel of Frocin the Dwarf; for he knows the
seven arts, and magic and every kind of charm. He will teach us if he
will the wiles of Iseult the Fair."

The little evil man drew signs for them and characters of sorcery; he
cast the fortunes of the hour and then at last he said:

"Sirs, high good lords, this night shall you seize them both."

Then they led the little wizard to the King, and he said:

"Sire, bid your huntsmen leash the hounds and saddle the horses,
proclaim a seven days' hunt in the forest and seven nights abroad
therein, and hang me high if you do not hear this night what converse
Tristan holds."

So did the King unwillingly; and at fall of night he left the hunt
taking the dwarf in pillion, and entered the orchard, and the dwarf
took him to the tall pine-tree, saying:

"Fair King, climb into these branches and take with you your arrows
and your bow, for you may need them; and bide you still."

That night the moon shone clear. Hid in the branches the King saw his
nephew leap the pallisades and throw his bark and twigs into the
stream. But Tristan had bent over the round well to throw them and so
doing had seen the image of the King. He could not stop the branches
as they floated away, and there, yonder, in the women's rooms, Iseult
was watching and would come.

She came, and Tristan watched her motionless. Above him in the tree he
heard the click of the arrow when it fits the string.

She came, but wi