return with her to land. Ysonde pretended that
Tristrem's music was necessary to her recovery, and the earl, to whom
Tristrem was unknown, offered to take him in his train to Ireland. The
earl had dismounted from the horse he was riding and was preparing to
return on board, when Tristrem sprang into the saddle, and, seizing
Ysonde's horse by the bridle, plunged into the forest. Here the lovers
remained for a week, after which Tristrem restored Ysonde to her
husband.

[Illustration: TRISTREM AND YSONDE]

Not unnaturally suspicion was aroused regarding the relations between
Tristrem and Ysonde. Meriadok, a knight of Cornwall, and an intimate
friend of Tristrem, was perhaps the most suspicious of all, and one
snowy evening he traced his friend to Ysonde's bower, to which
Tristrem gained entrance by a sliding panel. In this a piece of
Tristrem's green kirtle was left, and Meriadok bore the fragment to
the King, to whom he unfolded his suspicions. To test the truth of
these Mark pretended that he was going on a pilgrimage to the Holy
Land, and asked his wife to whose care she would wish to be committed.
Ysonde at first named Tristrem, but on the advice of Brengwain resumed
the subject later and feigned a mortal hatred for her lover, which she
ascribed to the scandal she had suffered on his account. The fears of
the simple Mark were thus lulled to sleep; but those of Meriadok were
by no means laid at rest. On his advice Mark definitely separated the
lovers, confining Ysonde to a bower and sending Tristrem to a
neighbouring city. But Tristrem succeeded in communicating with Ysonde
by means of leafy twigs thrown into the river which ran through her
garden, and they continued to meet.

Their interviews were, however, discovered by the aid of a dwarf who
concealed himself in a tree. One night Mark took the dwarf's place,
but the lovers were made aware of his presence by his shadow and
pretended to be quarrelling, Tristrem saying that Ysonde had
supplanted him in the King's affections. Mark's suspicions were thus
soothed for the time being. On another occasion Tristrem was not so
fortunate, and, being discovered, was forced to flee the country.

_The Ordeal by Fire_

Mark now resolved to test his wife's innocence by the dread ordeal by
fire, and he journeyed with his Court to Westminster, where the trial
was to take place. Tristrem, disguised as a peasant, joined the
retinue, and when the party arrived in the Thames he car