r Launcelot and to bear him a command for to return to the court
of the King. So Sir Bors did as the Queen bade him, but he did not find
Sir Launcelot until after he had been brought back to Corbin as
aforetold of.

[Sidenote: _Sir Bors cometh to Corbin._]

Thereafter it happened that one day Sir Bors had news that Sir Launcelot
was lying at the court of King Pelles. So he went thither and there he
beheld Sir Launcelot who was then wellnigh entirely recovered from his
wound.

But when Sir Launcelot beheld Sir Bors, such joy seized upon him that it
was as though his heart would break, wherefore he ran to Sir Bors and he
catched him in his arms, and embraced him with great passion and kissed
him many times upon the face.

And they of the court of King Pelles were very glad that so famous a
knight had come thither, wherefore they paid him great honor.

Only the Lady Elaine was troubled in spirit, for she wist that now Sir
Bors was come Sir Launcelot would not stay with them for long, but that
he would in a little while desire to return again to the court of King
Arthur.

[Sidenote: _Sir Bors speaketh to Sir Launcelot._]

And so she had reason for her fears, for the next day after he had
arrived at Corbin, Sir Bors took Sir Launcelot aside and he said to him,
"Sir Knight, I am a messenger." Sir Launcelot said, "What message have
you, and from whom?" Sir Bors said: "I bear a message from Queen
Guinevere and it is that you return immediately to the court of King
Arthur and that you present yourself to her and pay your duty to her as
of old."

Then after Sir Bors had thus spoken, Sir Launcelot turned him away and
stood at a window with his back to Sir Bors. And then after a
considerable while he said, "Sir, do you not know that my duty lieth
here?" Sir Bors said: "That I believe full well. Nor can I find fault
with you if you remain here in spite of the message I bring you. That
which I am here for is not to command you to come to Camelot, but only
to give you the commands of another."

Then Sir Launcelot said: "Would you return to Camelot if you were me and
I were you?" Sir Bors said, "That I cannot tell." Then after another
while Sir Launcelot cried out: "Nay, I will not go; for though my heart
lieth there and not here, yet I hold the happiness of another in my hand
and I cannot cast it away."

"Then," quoth Sir Bors, "I will return and tell them at the court of the
King that your honor binds you here." And Sir