Then anon came Queen Guinevere to where he was, and Sir Launcelot stood in the middle of the room and looked toward her. And he beheld that her face was grown very white and thin and that she was clad in robes of black and white. And the Queen looked toward Sir Launcelot and she knew him. And when she beheld him she cried out in a very loud and piercing voice, “God save me! Is it thou?” And with that she felt around behind her as though in a blindness. And she felt that there was a form behind her and she sat down upon the form. And she swooned upon that form so that her head fell backward across the back of the form. And Sir Launcelot perceived that she had swooned. Then Sir Launcelot called to the ladies of that convent in a very loud voice, “Make haste! Make haste! For the Queen hath swooned!” So several of those ladies came hastening and they loosened the robes of the Queen at the throat and they chafed her hands and bathed her temples with vinegar, and anon she awoke from her swoon and found Sir Launcelot kneeling before her. [Sidenote: _The Queen bespeaks Sir Launcelot._] And the Queen reached out and touched Sir Launcelot and she said, “Art thou real, or art thou a spirit?” And Sir Launcelot replied, “Lady, I am flesh and blood as thou art.” Then the Queen said to him, “Sir, what seek you here?” And Sir Launcelot replied, “I seek thee, Lady. For ever thou art present with me by day and by night, and never art thou absent from my thoughts.” The Queen said, “Ah, Launcelot! It is vain for thee to seek me here, for ever my heart is here in this place and here it will always remain. For here have I bethought me of my life and of all the joys and pleasures of my life, and of all the sinfulness and the evil that I have committed. And I wit that my lord, King Arthur, is now ever first within my thoughts and within my heart. For though I fled from King Arthur that time and betook myself with thee to Joyous Gard, yet there at Joyous Gard my heart turned ever to my lord and my King. For he was the lover of my youth, and first and last my heart turned ever to him in all my joys and in all my troubles. So now my King is passed, and my heart cleaveth to him in Paradise, and there I will haply rejoin my King and will dwell with him for aye. For there we shall be together in bliss and naught that is of sorrow or uncertainty shall ever come betwixt us.” Then Sir Launcelot cried out, “And I, Lady, is there naught in thy thoughts for me?” She said, “Yea, Launcelot, there is great friendship and love for thee, but not that sort of love. So get thee back to Joyous Gard and there take thee to wife some fair and gentle lady of that place. For so thou mayst rear to thee children in the stead of that Sir Galahad who hath departed from thee some while ago.” Sir Launcelot said, “Lady, I can never wed any woman in this world but thee.” And the Queen said, “Ah, Launcelot, that is a pity.” [Sidenote: _Sir Launcelot departeth from the Queen._]