"
A wild and improbable conjecture arose in the knight's mind, but
he repelled it. It was impossible, he thought, that the lady of
his love should have sent him such a message by such a messenger;
yet his voice trembled as he said, "Go to, Nectabanus. Tell me
at once, and as a true man, whether this sublime lady of whom
thou speakest be other than the houri with whose assistance I
beheld thee sweeping the chapel at Engaddi?"
"How! presumptuous Knight," replied the dwarf, "think'st thou
the mistress of our own royal affections, the sharer of our
greatness, and the partner of our comeliness, would demean
herself by laying charge on such a vassal as thou? No; highly as
thou art honoured, thou hast not yet deserved the notice of Queen
Guenevra, the lovely bride of Arthur, from whose high seat even
princes seem but pigmies. But look thou here, and as thou
knowest or disownest this token, so obey or refuse her commands
who hath deigned to impose them on thee."
So saying, he placed in the knight's hand a ruby ring, which,
even in the moonlight, he had no difficulty to recognize as that
which usually graced the finger of the high-born lady to whose
service he had devoted himself.
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