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And did her honour as the Prince's bride,

And clothed her for her bridals like the sun;
And all that week was old Caerleon gay,

For by the hands of Dubric, the high saint,
They twain were wedded with all ceremony.

And this was on the last year's Whitsuntide. But Enid ever kept the faded silk,

Remembering how first he came on her,

Drest in that dress, and how he loved her in it,

And all her foolish fears about the dress,

And all his journey toward her, as himself

Had told her, and their coming to the court.

And now this morning when he said to her, 'Put on your worst and meanest dress,' she found And took it, and array'd herself therein.

O purblind race of miserable men,

How many among us at this

very hour

Do forge a life-long trouble for ourselves,
By taking true for false, or false for true;
Here, thro' the feeble twilight of this world
Groping, how many, until we pass and reach
That other, where we see as we are seen!

So fared it with Geraint, who issuing forth. That morning, when they both had got to horse, Perhaps because he loved her passionately,

And felt that tempest brooding round his heart, Which, if he spoke at all, would break perforce Upon a head so dear in thunder, said:

'Not at my side! I charge you ride before,
Ever a good way on before; and this

I charge you, on your duty as a wife,
Whatever happens, not to speak to me,

No, not a word!' and Enid was aghast;
And forth they rode, but scarce three paces on,
When crying out 'Effeminate as I am,

I will not fight my way with gilded arms,

All shall be iron;' he loosed a mighty purse,

Hung at his belt, and hurl'd it toward the squire.

So the last sight that Enid had of home

Was all the marble threshold flashing, strown
With gold and scatter'd coinage, and the squire
Chafing his shoulder: then he cried again,

'To the wilds!' and Enid leading down the tracks
Thro' which he bade her lead him on, they past
The marches, and by bandit-haunted holds,
Gray swamps and pools, waste places of the hern,
And wildernesses, perilous paths, they rode :
Round was their pace at first, but slacken'd soon :
A stranger meeting them had surely thought,
They rode so slowly and they look'd so pale,
That each had suffer'd some exceeding wrong.

For he was ever saying to himself

'O I that wasted time to tend upon her,

To compass her with sweet observances,

To dress her beautifully and keep her true '—
And there he broke the sentence in his heart

Abruptly, as a man upon his tongue
May break it, when his passion masters him.
And she was ever praying the sweet heavens
To save her dear lord whole from any wound.
And ever in her mind she cast about

For that unnoticed failing in herself,
Which made him look so cloudy and so cold;
Till the great plover's human whistle amazed
Her heart, and glancing round the waste she fear'd
In every wavering brake an ambuscade.

Then thought again if there be such in me,

I might amend it by the grace of heaven,

If he would only speak and tell me of it.'

But when the fourth part of the day was gone,

Then Enid was aware of three tall knights
On horseback, wholly arm'd, behind a rock
In shadow, waiting for them, caitiffs all;
And heard one crying to his fellow, 'Look,
Here comes a laggard hanging down his head,

Who seems no bolder than a beaten hound;

Come, we will slay him and will have his horse
And armour, and his damsel shall be ours.'

Then Enid ponder'd in her heart, and said;

I will go back a little to my lord,

And I will tell him all their caitiff talk;

For, be he wroth even to slaying me,

Far liever by his dear hand had I die,

Than that my lord should suffer loss or shame.'

Then she went back some paces of return,

Met his full frown timidly firm, and said :

'My lord, I saw three bandits by the rock Waiting to fall on you, and heard them boast That they would slay you, and possess your horse and your damsel should be theirs.'

And armour,

He made a wrathful answer. 'Did I wish Your silence or your warning? one command

E

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