he did, yet he went as she desired, even if it should mean
the peril of death to him.

Then came those spies to King Mark and told him that Sir Tristram was gone
to the bower of the Lady Belle Isoult, and that she had bidden him to come
thither.

At that the vitals of King Mark were twisted with such an agony of hatred
and despair that he bent him double and cried out, "Woe! Woe! I suffer
torments!"

[Sidenote: King Mark spies upon Sir Tristram and Isoult] Therewith he
arose and went very quickly to that part of the castle where the Lady Belle
Isoult inhabited; and he went very softly up by a back way and through a
passage to where was a door with curtains hanging before it; and when he
had come there he parted the curtains and peeped within. And he beheld that
the Lady Belle Isoult and Sir Tristram sat at a game of chess, and he
beheld that they played not at the game but that they sat talking together
very sadly; and he beheld that Dame Bragwaine sat in a deep window to one
side--for Belle Isoult did not wish it to be said that she and Sir Tristram
sat alone.

All this King Mark saw and trembled with a torment of jealousy. So by and
by he left that place and went very quietly back into that passageway
whence he had come. And when he had come there he perceived a great glaive
upon a pole two ells long. This he took into his hand and returned unto
that curtained doorway again.

Then being in all ways prepared he parted the curtains silently and stepped
very quickly and without noise into the room. And the back of Sir Tristram
was toward him.

Then King Mark lifted the glaive on high and he struck; and Sir Tristram
sank without a sound.

Yea, I believe that that good knight knew naught of what had happened until
he awoke in Paradise to find himself in that realm of happiness and peace.

[Sidenote: Of the passing of Tristram and Isoult] Then Belle Isoult arose,
overturning the table of chessmen as she did so, but she made no outcry nor
sound of any sort. But she stood looking down at Sir Tristram for a little
space, and then she kneeled down beside his body and touched the face
thereof as though to make sure that it was dead. Therewith, as though being
assured, she fell down with her body upon his; and King Mark stood there
looking down upon them.

All this had passed so quickly that Dame Bragwaine hardly knew what had
befallen; but now, upon an instant, she suddenly fell to shrieking so
piercingly that the wh