lady of high degree, he sorely
pined. Thereupon Belphebe renewed her efforts to cure him, until he
was strong enough to accompany her into the forest. They were hunting
there one day when Timias beheld a damsel fleeing from a misshapen
monster, whom he attacked, but against whom he could not prevail,
because the monster opposed the lady as a shield to every blow which
Timias tried to deal him. It was only by a feint, therefore, that
Timias made the monster drop the lady, and he would surely have been
slain by his opponent, had not his companion rescued him by a timely
arrow. A moment later Belphebe was horrified to see Timias madly
kissing the lady the monster had dropped. Without waiting to ascertain
why he was doing so, the angry nymph fled, but, had she lingered, she
would have discovered that Timias was kissing her own counterpart, for
he had rescued her twin sister Amoret, who, after wandering away from
the sleeping Britomart, had been seized by the monster from whose cave
she had just managed to escape.

Bewildered to see Belphebe--whom he thought he was embracing--rush
away, Timias now dropped Amoret to follow his charmer, but, owing to
his lack of familiarity with the forest pathways, he soon lost his
way. In his grief he built himself a hut and dwelt in the forest,
vowing not to go back in quest of Amoret, lest he thereby arouse the
jealousy of his beloved. But to beguile his sorrow he carved
Belphebe's name on every tree, and was kissing these marks when Prince
Arthur, seeing him thus occupied, fancied he had gone mad!

Meantime Timias had also found a dove which had lost its mate, and,
realizing that they were both suffering from similar complaints, bound
around the bird's neck a ruby heart Belphebe had given him. The dove,
flying back to its mistress, enticed her, by fluttering a few paces
ahead of her, to the place where Timias was kissing her name carved
upon a tree. Convinced of his fidelity by such a proof of devotion,
Belphebe reinstated Timias in her favor, and once more ranged the
forest with him, hunting all kinds of game, until poor Timias was
wounded by the Blatant Beast,--Slander,--a monster from whose jaws he
was fortunately rescued by Prince Arthur.

After a partial recovery, Timias rode off with his master, to whom he
confided how he had abandoned Amoret in the forest, and from whom he
inquired whether any further news had been heard about her. To Timias'
satisfaction Arthur assured him she