Produced by David Edwards, Emmy and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) [Illustration: Cover] _KEEPING TRYST_ _A TALE OF KING ARTHUR'S TIME_ The Johnston Jewel Series BY ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON Each, small 16mo, cloth, decorated cover and frontispiece, with decorative text borders _75c._ LIST OF TITLES THE RESCUE OF THE PRINCESS WINSOME: A Fairy Play for Old and Young. KEEPING TRYST: A Tale of King Arthur's Time. *IN THE DESERT OF WAITING: The Legend of Camelback Mountain. *THE THREE WEAVERS: A Fairy Tale for Fathers and Mothers as Well as for Their Daughters. THE LEGEND OF THE BLEEDING HEART. *THE JESTER'S SWORD. *Also bound in full flexible leather, with special tooling in gold, boxed _$2.00_ THE PAGE COMPANY 53 BEACON STREET, BOSTON, MASS. [Illustration: I am Ederyn come to keep the King's tryst] _KEEPING TRYST_ A Tale of King Arthur's Time "_'Tis the king's call. O list! Thou heart and hand of mine, Keep tryst-- Keep tryst or die!_" BY ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON _Author of "The Little Colonel Series," "Big Brother," "Joel: A Boy of Galilee," etc._ [Illustration] BOSTON _THE PAGE COMPANY_ PUBLISHERS _Copyright, 1905_ BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY (Incorporated) _Copyright, 1906_ BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY (Incorporated) _All rights reserved_ Second Impression, December, 1906 Third Impression, April, 1910 Fourth Impression, May, 1911 Fifth Impression, February, 1914 Sixth Impression, April, 1918 Seventh Impression, June, 1920 _COLONIAL PRESS_ _Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co._ _Boston, U.S.A._ _Keeping Tryst_ NOW there was a troubadour in the kingdom of Arthur, who, strolling through the land with only his minstrelsy to win him a way, found in every baron's hall and cotter's hut a ready welcome. And while the boar's head sputtered on the spit, or the ale sparkled in the shining tankards, he told such tales of joust and journey, and feats of brave knight errantry, that even the scullions left their kitchen tasks, and, creeping near, stood round the door with mouths agape to listen. Then with his harp-strings tuned to echoes of the wind on winter moors, he sang of death and valour on the field, of love and fealty in the hall, till those who listened forgot all save his singing and the noble knights whereof he sang.