tter read
openly. He then broke the seal himself, and bade a clerk read it, and
this was what it said:

'Most noble Knight Sir Lancelot, I was your lover, whom men called the
Fair Maid of Astolat: therefore unto all ladies I make my moan; yet
pray for my soul, and bury me. This is my last request. Pray for my
soul, Sir Lancelot, as thou art peerless.'

[Illustration: THE BLACK BARGET]

This was all the letter, and the King and Queen and all the Knights
wept when they heard it.

'Let Sir Lancelot be sent for,' presently said the King, and when Sir
Lancelot came the letter was read to him also.

'My lord Arthur,' said he, after he had heard it all, 'I am right
grieved at the death of this damsel. God knows I was not, of my own
will, guilty of her death, and that I will call on her brother, Sir
Lavaine, to witness. She was both fair and good, and much was I
beholden to her, but she loved me out of measure.'

'You might have been a little gentle with her,' answered the Queen,
'and have found some way to save her life.'

'Madam,' said Sir Lancelot, 'she would have nothing but my love, and
that I could not give her, though I offered her a thousand pounds
yearly if she should set her heart on any other Knight. For, Madam, I
love not to be forced to love; love must arise of itself, and not by
command.'

'That is truth,' replied the King, 'love is free in himself, and never
will be bounden; for where he is bounden he looseth himself. But, Sir
Lancelot, be it your care to see that the damsel is buried as is
fitting.'

_LANCELOT AND GUENEVERE_

Now we come to the sorrowful tale of Lancelot and Guenevere, and of
the death of King Arthur. Already it has been told that King Arthur
had wedded Guenevere, the daughter of Leodegrance, King of Cornwall, a
damsel who seemed made of all the flowers, so fair was she, and
slender, and brilliant to look upon. And the Knights in her father's
Court bowed down before her, and smote their hardest in the jousts
where Guenevere was present, but none dared ask her in marriage till
Arthur came. Like the rest he saw and loved her, but, unlike them, he
was a King, and might lift his eyes even unto Guenevere. The maiden
herself scarcely saw or spoke to him, but did her father's bidding in
all things, and when he desired her to make everything ready to go
clothed as beseemed a Princess to King Arthur's Court, her heart beat
with joy at the sight of rich stuffs and shining jewels. The