iamond.

But because Elaine was very fair, and because he did not greatly
wish to do the order of the King, Sir Gawaine lingered there,
wandering in the old castle garden, with 'the Lily Maid of
Astolat.' And he told Elaine courtly tales of lords and ladies, and
tried to win her love, but she cared for no one but the knight
whose shield she guarded.

One day, as Elaine grew impatient with the idle Sir Gawaine, she
said she would show him the shield the strange knight had left with
her. 'If you know the arms engraved on the shield, you will know
the name of the knight you seek, and perhaps find him the sooner,'
she said.

And when Sir Gawaine saw the shield he cried, 'It is the shield of
Sir Lancelot, the noblest knight in Arthur's court.'

Elaine touched the shield lovingly, and murmured, 'The noblest
knight in Arthur's court.'

'You love Sir Lancelot, and will know where to find him,' said Sir
Gawaine. 'I will give you the diamond, and you shall fulfil the
King's command.'

And Sir Gawaine rode away from Astolat, kissing the hands of the
fair Elaine, and leaving the diamond with her. And when he reached
the court he told the lords and ladies about the fair maid of
Astolat who loved Sir Lancelot. 'He wore her favour, and she guards
his shield,' he said.

But when the King heard that Sir Gawaine had come back, without
finding the strange knight, and leaving the diamond with the fair
maid of Astolat, he was displeased. 'You have not served me as a
true knight,' he said gravely; and Sir Gawaine was silent, for he
remembered how he had lingered at Astolat.

When Elaine took the diamond from Sir Gawaine she went to her
father. 'Let me go to find the wounded knight and Lavaine,' she
said. 'I will nurse the knight as maidens nurse those who have worn
their favours.' And her father let her go.

With the grave Sir Torre to guard her, Elaine rode into the wood,
and near the hermitage she saw Lavaine.

'Take me to Sir Lancelot,' cried the Fair Elaine. And Lavaine
marvelled that she knew the knight's name.

Then Elaine told her brother about Sir Gawaine, and his careless
search for Lancelot, and she showed him the diamond she brought for
the wounded knight.

'Take me to him,' she cried again. And as they went, Sir Torre
turned and rode gloomily back to Astolat, for it did not please him
that the Fair Elaine should love Sir Lancelot.

When Lavaine and Elaine reached the hermitage, the hermit welcomed
the fair mai