y
all your efforts and strength and skill in procuring that peace and
pardon which no one in the world, except you, can secure for him." Then
the lady bade him rise, and said: "He may dispose of all my power!
I shall be very happy, if possible, to accomplish his wish and his
desire." "Surely, my lady," Lunete replied, "I would not say it if it
were not true. But all this is even more possible for you than I have
said: but now I will tell you the whole truth, and you shall see: you
never had and you never will have such a good friend as this gentleman.
God, whose will it is that there should be unending peace and love
between you and him, has caused me to find him this day so near at hand.
In order to test the truth of this, I have only one thing to say: lady,
dismiss the grudge you bear him! For he has no other mistress than you.
This is your husband, my lord Yvain."

(Vv. 6759-6776.) The lady, trembling at these words, replied: "God save
me! You have caught me neatly in a trap! You will make me love, in spite
of myself, a man who neither loves nor esteems me. This is a fine piece
of work, and a charming way of serving me! I would rather endure the
winds and the tempests all my life: And if it were not a mean and
ugly thing to break one's word, he would never make his peace or be
reconciled with me. This purpose would have always lurked within me, as
a fire smoulders in the ashes; but I do not wish to renew it now, nor do
I care to refer to it, since I must be reconciled with him."

(Vv. 6777-6798.) My lord Yvain hears and understands that his cause is
going well, and that he will be peacefully reconciled with her. So he
says: "Lady, one ought to have mercy on a sinner. I have had to pay, and
dearly to pay, for my mad act. It was madness that made me stay away,
and I now admit my guilt and sin. I have been bold, indeed, in daring
to present myself to you; but if you will deign to keep me now, I never
again shall do you any wrong." She replied: "I will surely consent to
that; for if I did not do all I could to establish peace between you
and me, I should be guilty of perjury. So, if you please, I grant your
request." "Lady," says he, "so truly as God in this mortal life could
not otherwise restore me to happiness, so may the Holy Spirit bless me
five hundred times!"

(Vv. 6799-6813.) Now my lord Yvain is reconciled, and you may believe
that, in spite of the trouble he has endured, he was never so happy
for anything. A