The Squire's Quest Read Online Free PDF

most admirable. I do not know anyone like you."
    Gawain's shoulders shook convulsively, and Terence guessed that his friend was remembering how Sarah had once beheaded an attacking knight. In a colorless voice, Sarah replied, "It is kind of you to say so, Your Highness."
    "My lord," said Acoriondes, "look at that coat of arms opposite you, with the twin lions. Is that not like the crest that you admired at Lady Maximilla's palace in Macedonia?"
    "Yes. I don't know. Perhaps," Alexander replied without looking. "It is of no importance. Lady Sarah, I should like to show you the Aegean Sea. It is the bluest of seas, yet it is nothing before your eyes."
    "My eyes are green, Your Highness."
    "And yet to me they are the purest of opal, and more precious."
    "Emperor Alexander," said Guinevere, "tell Sarah what you were telling me earlier, about your castle in Athens."
    "My court is at Constantinopolis," Alexander began, "but my fathers came from Macedon and Achaia—in Greece—and so I have a summer palace at Athens, of pure white marble, like the pure white of your..." He hesitated, then asked Acoriondes a question in Greek.
    "Like the pure the white of your cheek," Acoriondes interpreted.
    "No, no, that is not what I meant," Alexander protested. "I know
cheek."
    "It had better be what you meant, my lord," Acoriondes said woodenly. "My lord, I wonder which armor you shall choose to wear at the tournament in two days' time."
    "Ah, the tournament!" exclaimed Alexander. "It is in the songs of the troubadors that a knight must wear on his armor the ... I-do-not-know-the-word of his lady, is it not so?"
    "Token,
Your Highness," Queen Guinevere supplied. "And, yes, it is often done so. A lady will give her knight a sleeve or a shawl to wear as a token in the jousting."
    "My lady Sarah, I beg you to give me your sleeve!" Alexander cried.
    "I am sorry to disappoint you, Your Highness, but I have need of all my sleeves."
    "You could give him a shawl," Guinevere suggested. "One of your lovely embroidered ones." She turned to Alexander and explained, "Sarah does the most beautiful needlework!"
    "She is a model woman, yes? To be so beautiful and also so talented!" Alexander replied.
    "It's because I was raised by a Jewish textile merchant," Sarah said bluntly.
    Alexander burst into laughter and renewed his entreaties for a scrap of cloth, but Sarah refused again.
    Then young Cligés, seated at Alexander's side, spoke up. "You must not press her, my brother. It would not be
à la courtoise.
She should give you the token secretly, and then all the court would try to guess whose token you wear. And your love must not be easy. You must suffer first."
    "I must suffer?" Alexander asked blankly. "Why?"
    "It is how it is done, my brother," Cligés explained firmly. "
Si la dard est entrée par l'œil, pourquoi souffre le cœur dans la poitrine?"
    Terence spoke some French, but didn't catch this. Now a new voice joined the conversation. This was Sir Dinadan, seated at a nearby table. "O Emperor Alexander, didn't I hear you say you spent some time in Champagne?"
    "Yes, for many days we were there."
    "I thought I recognized that line," Dinadan commented.
    "You know the French song I was quoting?" Cligés asked, delighted. "Is it not of the finest?"
    Dinadan nodded agreeably. "Yes, indeed it is not," he replied.
    "That was from a song?" asked Guinevere. "What does it mean?"
    "
'If love enters through the eye, why does the heart suffer in the breast?'"
Dinadan translated. Then he gave Acoriondes an impish glance and said, "Or should I say
cheek?
"
    The statesman said nothing. Cligés ignored them both, still looking earnestly at his brother. "Yes, that is what I mean. If you love, you must suffer first in the heart!"
    Sarah pushed her chair back from the table and rose. "I quite understand; I have a touch of indigestion myself." She turned to Arthur. "O king, forgive me, but I should like to lie down."
    "Of course," the king said,