going upon a quest
into the land of Logres, and I do not know when I may return. Do thou
therefore keep our kingdom till I return.'

'I will do so, my son,' said Erbin, 'but thou art not strong enough to
go through the land of Logres alone. Wilt thou not have a company with
thee?'

'But one person shall go with me,' said Geraint, 'and that is a woman.
Farewell.'

Then he put on the old and rusty suit of armour, and took the shield
with no device, and a sword and a lance, and then mounting his horse he
took his way out of the town. And Enid went before him on her palfrey,
marvelling what all this might mean.

Geraint called unto her and said sternly:

'Go thou and ride a long way before me. And whatever ye see or hear
concerning me, say naught, and turn not back. And unless I speak to
thee, speak not thou to me.'

All day they rode thus, and deeper and deeper they sank into a desolate
land, where huge rocks jutted from the starved soil, and there was no
sound or sight of living thing, except it was the wolf looking from his
lair beneath a stone, or the breaking of a branch, as the brown bear on
a distant hillslope tore at a tree to get a honeycomb, and blinked down
at them, marvelling, maybe, to see a knight and a lady in his desolate
domain.

When, late in the afternoon, their long shadows marched before them
down a broad green road which they had struck upon, Enid's heart
suddenly lifted to see the white walls and roofs of what looked like a
rich town; for she knew not what was in her lord's mind, and feared
lest his strange anger should push him to go on through the night, and
so become a prey to robbers or wild animals. But she marvelled that
there was no sight or sound of people; no carters or travellers going
to or coming from the city, and no smoke rose above the housetops.

When they came nearer, she saw the wall of the gate was broken down,
and that along the broad road beyond the wall the grass waved high
across the street, and the little wooden booths and cabins beside the
road were rotting and decayed. Anon they rode into a broad market-place
or forum, where white buildings rose above them, the windows gaping,
grass growing on the roofs or in the crannies of the walls, and the
doorways choked with bushes. And out of the broad hallway of the
basilica she saw the grey form of a wolf walk and slink away in the
shadows.

With a sinking heart she knew that this was one of the fair cities
which the Rom