So Sir Launcelot and his knights to the number of two hundred and twelve came to England in ships and galleys, and they landed at Dover as King Arthur had done.
And when Sir Launcelot arrived at Dover there came to him a messenger and told him of that battle that had been fought upon the plains not far from Salisbury, and how that Sir Mordred had been slain and how that King Arthur had died of his wound thereafter. And that messenger also told him how that Sir Constantine of Cornwall had been crowned King of Britain, in the room of King Arthur.
All this Sir Launcelot heard and also the knights who were with him. And Sir Launcelot wept a very great deal and several of those knights who were with him wept also. And Sir Launcelot cried out, “Ah, my dear noble and gracious lord, King Arthur! Woe is me that in that first battle I should have slain Sir Agravaine and not Sir Mordred! For it is now upon me to believe that Sir Mordred was the instigator of all this mischief. But now is King Arthur gone and all is turned to ruin and to loss about us. For here be hardly any of the Knights of the Round Table yet living, and many of those who were amongst the best and noblest of those knights have been slain. To wit, Sir Gawaine hath been slain, and Sir Lionel and Sir Ector have been slain, and Sir Ewaine hath been slain, and Sir Gareth who was my dear and loving friend hath been slain, and Sir Geharis hath been slain. All these have died and several others, and had it not been for Sir Mordred and his treachery these would yet have been alive. But all these have died because of the treachery of Sir Mordred. Would that he had died in the beginning, for these would all then have been saved!”
So Sir Launcelot made his lament, and in making it the tears flowed down his face in streams. And Sir Launcelot said, “Who of us can now serve under King Constantine as vassals?” They say to him, “none of us can so serve him.” Said Sir Launcelot, “nor can I serve him.” Then he said, “Where is now Queen Guinevere?” They say to him, “Sir, she is at this present at the convent of Saint Bridget at Rochester and she is the Abbess of that convent. For since King Arthur gave her to the church she hath taken up the orders of the church and hath become a nun of black and white.”
Sir Launcelot goeth to Rochester to seek the Queen.
So that night Sir Launcelot took horse and he rode away alone, and he rode to Rochester and to the convent of Saint Bridget. And Sir Launcelot came into the room of that convent and he said to those who were there, “Let me have speech with the Abbess of this place.”
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.
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.”