on these things came to the ears of the old King Erbin, and great
heaviness was upon him. And he called the Lady Enid to him one day, and
with stern sorrow in his eyes spoke thus:

'Fair woman, is it thou that hast turned my son's spirit into water? Is
it thy love that hath made his name a byword among those who should
love him because he is not as he once was--a man no one could meet in
arms and overcome? Is it thou that hath sunk him in slothfulness, so
that the wolfish lords and tyrant barons upon his marchlands begin to
creep out of their castleholds, and tear and maim his people and wrest
from them and him broad lands and fertile fields?'

'Nay, lord, nay,' said Enid, and he knew from the tears in her brave
eyes that she spoke the truth. 'It is not I, by my confession unto
Heaven! I know not what hath come to my dear lord. But there is nothing
more hateful to me than his unknightly sloth! And I know not what I may
do. For it is not harder, lord, to know what men say of my dear
husband, than to have to tell him, and see the shame in the eyes of him
I love.'

And Enid went away weeping sorely.

The next morning, when Enid awoke from sleep, she sat up and looked at
Geraint sleeping. The sun was shining through the windows, and lay upon
her husband. And she gazed upon his marvellous beauty, and the great
muscles of his arms and breast, and tears filled her eyes as she leaned
over him.

'Alas,' she said half aloud, 'am I the cause that this strength, this
noble and manly beauty have all lost the fame they once enjoyed? Am I
the cause that he hath sunk in sloth, and men scoff at his name and his
strength?'

And the words were heard by Geraint, and he felt the scalding tears
fall upon his breast, and he lay appearing to be asleep, yet he was
awake. A great rage burned in him, so that for some moments he knew not
what to do or say.

Then he opened his eyes as if he had heard and felt nothing, and in his
eyes was a hard gleam. He rose and swiftly dressed, and called his
squire.

'Go,' he said to the man, 'prepare my destrier, and get old armour and
a shield with no device thereon, old and rusty. And say naught to
none.'

'And do thou,' he said to his wife, 'rise and apparel thyself, and
cause thy horse to be prepared, and do thou wear the oldest riding-robe
thou hast. And thou wilt come with me.'

So Enid arose and clothed herself in her meanest garments.

Then Geraint went to his father and said, 'Sir, I am