se body to the heap, but that I leave you for
Alexander's revenge."

This said, he took horse and rode briskly away, and in all his court
Mark could not find a knight willing to pursue him, for all that held
with the king feared the old knight's sturdy arm.

King Mark now finding his wrath of no avail, set himself to devising
some scheme of treachery by which the danger that threatened him might
be removed. In the end he made a compact with Morgan le Fay and the
queen of Northgalis, both false sorceresses, in which they agreed to
fill the land with ladies that were enchantresses, and with false
knights like Malgrim and Breuse Sans Pite, so that the young knight
Alexander le Orphelin should be surrounded with magic and treachery, and
without doubt be taken prisoner or slain.

Soon after his knighting, Alexander set out for King Arthur's court, and
on the way there had many adventures, in which he proved himself a
knight of great valor and skill. Among these was a mighty battle with
the false knight Malgrim, whom in the end he killed.

But now Morgan le Fay sought to entrap him by her false devices. She
gave him a sleeping draught, and had him taken in a horse-litter to a
castle of hers named La Belle Regard.

Here she cured him of his wounds by healing salves, but not until he had
promised that he would not set foot beyond the boundaries of that castle
for a twelvemonth and a day. When he had recovered, Alexander chafed
bitterly at his confinement, for he felt sure that the pledge had been
exacted from him to save King Mark from his vow of revenge. Yet his word
held him close prisoner.

As one day he wandered through the halls of the castle, like a young
lion in a cage,--now heavy and sad, now burning with desire for
action,--there came to him a damsel who was cousin to Morgan le Fay, and
to whom the castle of La Belle Regard by right belonged.

"Sir knight," she said to him, "I find you doleful of aspect; yet I bear
tidings that should make you merry!"

"I pray you tell them to me," he answered. "I am here now a prisoner by
promise, but must say that time hangs very heavy on my hands."

"You are more of a prisoner than you deem," she replied. "My cousin,
Morgan le Fay, keeps you here for purposes of her own which you will
scarcely find to your liking."

"I fancy she keeps me here through an understanding with King Mark," he
rejoined. "I have no faith in her, but I cannot break my word of honor."

"Truly, fa