'And I swear that never saw I so valiant and stout a knight as he,' said Sir Gawaine. 'For I dare swear that he beat down twenty knights of the Round Table, and his fellow also did well.'
'Now, blessed be God,' said the fair maid of Astolat, with a great cry of joy, 'that the good knight sped so well; for he is the one man in the world whom I have ever loved, and truly he shall be the last man that ever after I shall love.'
'Then do ye know his name?' asked Sir Gawaine.
'Nay, I know it not,' said Elaine, 'nor whence he came. But I know that I love him and none other.'
Then they told Sir Gawaine how they had first had knowledge of the strange knight; and the damsel said that he had left her his shield in place of the white one he had taken, so that none should know him. Sir Gawaine begged that she would fetch it from her chamber.
Elaine brought it and drew it from the case of leather in which she had wrapped it, and said, 'See, there is no spot of rust upon it, for I have cleaned it with my own hands every day.'
'Alas,' said Sir Gawaine, when he saw the device upon the shield, 'now is my heart full heavier than it hath ever been.'
'Why, oh why?' cried Elaine, and stood pale and breathless.
'Is the knight that owneth that shield your love?' asked Gawaine.
'Yes, truly,' said the maiden, 'I love him'; and then sadly she said, 'but would that he should tell me that I was also his love.'