serious business and not to be taken in jest.

"Many speak glibly of love," he said, "of whom not one can spell the
first letter of its name. Love should be quiet and discreet or it is
nothing worth, and without accord between the lovers love is but a
bond and a constraint. Love is too high a matter for me to meddle
with."

The Queen listened greedily to Graelent's words, and when he had
finished speaking she discovered her love for him; but he turned from
her courteously but firmly.

"Lady," he said, "I beg your forgiveness, but this may not be. I am
the King's man, and to him I have pledged my faith and loyalty. Never
shall he know shame through any conduct of mine."

With these words he took his leave of the Queen. But his protestations
had altered her mind not at all. She sent him messages daily, and
costly gifts, but these he refused and returned, till at last the
royal dame, stung to anger by his repulses, conceived a violent hatred
for him, and resolved to be revenged upon him for the manner in which
he had scorned her love.

The King of Brittany went to war with a neighbouring monarch, and
Graelent bore himself manfully in the conflict, leading his troops
again and again to victory. Hearing of his repeated successes, the
Queen was exceedingly mortified, and made up her mind to destroy his
popularity with the troops. With this end in view she prevailed upon
the King to withhold the soldiers' pay, which Graelent had to advance
them out of his own means. In the end the unfortunate knight was
reduced almost to beggary by this mean stratagem.

One morning he was riding through the town where he was lodged, clad
in garments so shabby that the wealthy burgesses in their fur-lined
cloaks and rich apparel gibed and jeered at him, but Graelent, sure of
his own worth, deigned not to take notice of such ill-breeding, and
for his solace quitted the crowded streets of the place and took his
way toward the great forest which skirted it. He rode into its gloom
deep in thought, listening to the murmur of the river which flowed
through the leafy ways.

He had not gone far when he espied a white hart within a thicket. She
fled before him into the thickest part of the forest, but the silvern
glimmer of her body showed the track she had taken. On a sudden deer
and horseman dashed into a clearing among the trees where there was a
grassy lawn, in the midst of which sprang a fountain of clear water.
In this fountain a lady wa