came
two evil men into the hall whom he had suborned, and bore false witness
that I was a thrall and a runaway. So that the baron would have held
me there (being a mighty man) despite my lord and his wrath and his
grief, had not a young knight of his house been, who swore that he
would slay him unless he let us go; and whereas there were other
knights and squires there present who murmured, the baron was in a way
compelled. So we departed, and divers of the said knights and squires
went with us to see us safe on the way.

"But this was nigh to the kingdom of my lord's father, and that felon
baron I came across again, and he was ever after one of my worst foes.

"Moreover, that young champion who had first stood up in the hall rode
with us still, when the others had turned back; and I soon saw of him
that he found it hard to keep his eyes off me; and that also saw my
lord, and it was a near thing that they did not draw sword thereover:
yet was that knight no evil man, but good and true, and I was
exceedingly sorry for him; but I could not help him in the only way he
would take help of me.

"Lo you, my friend, the beginnings of evil in those long past days, and
the seeds of ill-hap sown in the field of my new life even before the
furrow was turned.

"Well, we came soon into my lord's country, and fair and rich and
lovely was it in those days; free from trouble and unpeace, a happy
abode for the tillers of the soil, and the fashioners of wares. The
tidings had gone to the king that my lord was come back, and he came to
meet him with a great company of knights and barons, arrayed in the
noblest fashion that such folk use; so that I was bewildered with their
glory, and besought my lord to let me fall back out of the way, and
perchance he might find me again. But he bade me ride on his right
hand, for that I was the half of his life and his soul, and that my
friends were his friends and my foes his foes.

"Then there came to me an inkling of the things that should befall, and
I saw that the sweet and clean happiness of my new days was marred, and
had grown into something else, and I began to know the pain of strife
and the grief of confusion: but whereas I had not been bred
delicately, but had endured woes and griefs from my youngest days, I
was not abashed, but hardened my heart to face all things, even as my
lord strove to harden his heart: for, indeed, I said to myself that if
I was to him as the half of his li