n you, I have atoned for it this day,
and no one can say that I have not held my own like a man. But this I
will affirm, that I never before fought with a man of your might.
Therefore I beg you to forgive me for all wrongs which I have done you,
and as my vow is now fulfilled, I stand ready to go with you to the
nearest church, there to be confessed, and to receive baptism as a true
and earnest Christian knight."

"I gladly forgive you all you have done against me," said Tristram; "the
more so that you have done it rather from love than from hatred. It
fills my heart with joy to be the means of bringing the valiant
Palamides into the Church of Christ, and hereafter I shall hold you
among my best friends. Within a mile from here is the suffragan of
Carlisle, who will gladly give you the sacrament of baptism; and all
Christendom must rejoice to gain so noble a convert."

Then they took their horses and helped Galleron to his, and rode to the
church, where Tristram told the suffragan the purpose of their coming.
Proud to bring into the fold of the church so notable a convert, the
suffragan filled a great vessel with water, and hallowed it. This done,
he confessed and baptized Sir Palamides, while Tristram and Galleron
stood as his godfathers.

Afterwards the three knights rode to Camelot, much to the joy of the
king and queen, who gladly welcomed Tristram to their court, and were no
less glad to learn that the valiant Palamides had become a Christian,
and that the long rivalry between him and Tristram was at an end. The
great feast of Pentecost that followed was the merriest that had ever
been held at Arthur's court, and the merriest that ever would be, for
the breath of coming woe and trouble was in the air, and the time was
near at hand in which that worthy fellowship of noble knights was
destined to break up in dire disaster.

But first of all the tide of disaster came upon Tristram the brave and
Isolde the fair, as we must now relate. The chronicles tell the story at
length, but the record of treachery and crime had always best be short,
and so we shall make that of King Mark, the murderer.

Many years before the time to which we have now come, King Mark's
treachery had filled Cornwall with mischief and all the land with
horror, through a deed of frightful crime. And in thus wise it came
about. Cornwall had been invaded by a host of Saracens, but before they
could do any mischief, Prince Baldwin, King Mark's broth