he hermit walked
in the moonlight upon a little lawn of grass before the door of the
hermitage. By and by the hermit said to Sir Lavaine: "Sir Knight, know
you who yonder knight is whom you brought hither to-night?" and Sir
Lavaine said, "Nay, I know not, save that he calleth himself le
Chevalier Malfait."

[Sidenote: _The hermit declareth Sir Launcelot's name._]

"Well," quoth the hermit, "God knows that all we who live upon His earth
may easily do ill in His sight; yet I dare to say that that yonder
knight hath done as little ill as any of us. Sir, you must know that he
is none other than Sir Launcelot of the Lake."

At this Sir Lavaine cried out aloud in great wonder, saying: "What is it
that you tell me! Lo! This knight hath dwelt at the court of my father,
King Pelles of Corbin, for more than a year yet no one there wist that
it was Sir Launcelot of the Lake whom we entertained in our midst."

"And yet," quoth the hermit, "that wounded man is none other than he."

* * * * *

[Sidenote: _King Arthur sits at feast._]

Now that same night whilst Sir Launcelot lay thus wounded in the
hermit's cell in the forest, a great feast was held at Astolat in the
presence of King Arthur. There were set fourteen tables in the great
hall of the castle of Astolat, and at those tables there sat down seven
hundred in all of the lords and knights and ladies of that land--kings,
earls, dukes, barons, knights, and esquires with their dames--fifty at
each table.

Then King Arthur looked all about but he beheld no sign of Sir
Launcelot, wherefore he said to the King of North Wales who sat nigh to
him: "Where is that worthy knight who was with you to-day--he who wore
about his helmet a flame-colored sleeve embroidered with fair pearls of
price?" To this the King of North Wales replied: "Lord, we know not
where that worshipful champion now is. For although we besought him to
come hither with us, and although we besought him to come to you so
that you might award unto him the prize of battle, yet he would not. For
he proclaimed himself to be wounded and craved our leave to withdraw
himself--wherefore we gave him that leave and he hied him away and we
know not whither he hath gone."

"Now I am right sorry for that," quoth King Arthur, "for I would rather
have that knight to feast with us than any one of all those who wear
spurs in this hall. And I am still more sorry to hear that so worshipful
a champi