Shall have his fair niece for a bride,
And half his land as well.
The “fair niece” is the orphan Lady Adela—
For beauty famous far and wide,
whose heart has previously been given to Sir Edgar’s son; but the course of true love has been characterised by the proverbial absence of smoothness, and the young knight, to escape his father’s wrath, has betaken himself to the wars in Eastern lands.
The night’s carousal draws to a close, and at break of day the huntsman’s horn wakes the sleepers to a glorious chase, when
Full threescore riders mount with speed,
chief among whom, and the competitors for the fair Adela’s hand, are the two knights, Laybourne and Delisle—the latter the long-lost son of Sir Edgar, who has returned from the Crusades, and appears in disguise and under an assumed name, though the old retainers, as they view the stranger knight, know that
The long-lost wanderer meets their sight,
Whate’er his name be now.