ft procured'st
And sent the merchants to my bower. What
Wonder is it then that I myself should think
Of this same thing?

MARK.
'Tis so, I wronged thy thoughts,
For I myself have often brought such men
To thee. These peddlers and these mountebanks
Are famous friends! I see it now! They come
From far and wide; they travel much; they are
Both wise and cunning--apt, indeed, to serve
As messengers!

ISEULT.
Ay, Mark, thou didst me wrong.
But greater to Brangaene and Gawain!
I pray thee set them free; they but obeyed
My will.

MARK (angrily).
Bring forth the pair, and set them free
These go-betweens Brangaene and Gawain!

[The soldier goes.]

Tell now, my Lord Denovalin, thy tale,
And speak thy words distinctly, ay, and loud!
And ye, my Lords, I pray you, listen well;
A pretty tale!

[He crouches on the steps of the throne,
and stares at ISEULT. DENOVALIN steps
forward from behind the table.]

DENOVALIN.
I rode today at dawn,
And, coming through the Morois, saw, while yet
The mist was hanging in the trees, around
A curving of the road, a man who rode.
Full proud and straight he sat upon his steed,
But yet he seemed to wish that none should see
Him there, for carefully did he avoid
The clearer spots, and peering round about,
He listened and he keenly watched, then turned
Into a thicket when afar he heard
The hoof-beats of my horse. I followed him,
And soon I was as near as a man's voice
Will carry. Loud and haughtily I called
To him, but then he drove the spurs so deep
Into his steed that, like a wounded stag,
It sprang into the air and dashed away.
I followed close behind, and bade the man
In knightly and in manly honor stand.
He heeded not my words and fled away,
And then I cried aloud that he should stand,
And called him by Iseult the Goldenhaired.

ISEULT (passionately and firmly).
And at my name Lord Tristram stood.

(Anxiously.)

Did he
Not stand and wait?

(Imploringly.)

Oh, say that at that call
Lord Tristram stood!

(Passionately.)

And I will bless thy