and nights passed by, and ever the husband and wife
drifted more and more apart. Sir Tristram's wound refused to heal,
his strength failed him more and more, but still his wife made no attempt
to save him.

At last there came a day when Sir Tristram could no longer endure his
lonely, loveless life, or his pain of mind and body, with never a kindly
word or deed to comfort him. This hard, reproachful woman tortured him
hour by hour with her sullen face and hard eyes, her cruel, cold
indifference. And his love for that other Iseult, so tender, and true,
and loving, burnt like fire in his veins and consumed him. So calling to
him Ganhardine, his wife's brother, who loved him greatly, he bade him, by
the love they bore each other, to take his ship 'The Swan,' and with all
speed sail in her to England; and there to land at Tintagel, and by fair
means or foul to convey to Queen Iseult the ring which he there gave him.
To tell her, too, how that he, Sir Tristram, was like to die, but could
not die in peace till he had seen her face once more.

"Then if it be that she comes, hoist a white sail that I may know my love
still loves me, and is on her way. If not, then let the sail be black,
that I may know, and die."

And Iseult of the White Hands heard each word he spake, and never a word
she said; but her rage and jealousy well-nigh consumed her.

So Sir Ganhardine left upon his errand, and sailed for Tintagel in
'The Swan,' and the journey did not take him long, for the ship flew
through the waters like a real bird, as though she knew she was bound on
her master's errand, and that his life depended on her swiftness.

Dark it was when Ganhardine arrived, for it was winter-time, when storms
rage full violent on that bleak coast. And at once he landed, and was
made welcome by King Mark, for a stranger, and a noble one, was ever
welcome in that lone country; and the king's heart never misgave him that
this was a messenger from Sir Tristram.

Now it happened that Dame Bragwaine knew Sir Ganhardine, for they had been
lovers in days gone by, and more than glad they were to see each other
again. So with Bragwaine's gladly given help, Ganhardine conveyed Sir
Tristram's ring to Queen Iseult in a cup of wine, so that when the queen
drank, there at the bottom of the cup lay Sir Tristram's ring, one that
she had given him long ago. And there she saw it, and her pale sad face
lit up with such a wondrous joy that she had some ado t