ere were two knights,' said Sir Gawaine, 'who each bore a white
shield, and one had a red sleeve upon his helmet.'

Sir Gawaine saw how the damsel clasped her hands together, and her face
lit up with a great light and her eyes were bright and proud.

'And I swear that never saw I so valiant and stout a knight as he,'
said Sir Gawaine. 'For I dare swear that he beat down twenty knights of
the Round Table, and his fellow also did well.'

'Now, blessed be God,' said the fair maid of Astolat, with a great cry
of joy, 'that the good knight sped so well; for he is the one man in
the world whom I have ever loved, and truly he shall be the last man
that ever after I shall love.'

'Then do ye know his name?' asked Sir Gawaine.

'Nay, I know it not,' said Elaine, 'nor whence he came. But I know that
I love him and none other.'

Then they told Sir Gawaine how they had first had knowledge of the
strange knight; and the damsel said that he had left her his shield in
place of the white one he had taken, so that none should know him. Sir
Gawaine begged that she would fetch it from her chamber.

Elaine brought it and drew it from the case of leather in which she had
wrapped it, and said, 'See, there is no spot of rust upon it, for I
have cleaned it with my own hands every day.'

'Alas,' said Sir Gawaine, when he saw the device upon the shield, 'now
is my heart full heavier than it hath ever been.'

'Why, oh why?' cried Elaine, and stood pale and breathless.

'Is the knight that owneth that shield your love?' asked Gawaine.

'Yes, truly,' said the maiden, 'I love him'; and then sadly she said,
'but would that he should tell me that I was also his love.'

'How ever that be,' said Sir Gawaine, 'you should know that you love
the noblest knight in all the world, the most honourable and one of the
most worth.'

'So thought me ever,' said the maid of Astolat, proudly smiling; 'for
never have I seen a knight that I could love but that one.'

'And never hath he borne token or sign of any lady or gentlewoman
before he bore thine,' said Sir Gawaine.

At these words the maid Elaine could have swooned for very joy, for she
deemed that Sir Lancelot had borne her token for love of her.
Therefore, she was cast more deeply in love with him than ever.

'But I dread me,' went on Sir Gawaine, 'for I fear we may never see him
in this life again.'

'Alas! alas!' cried Elaine, throwing herself at the feet of the knight,
and clutching his