“Heart, you should have broken of sorrow not to have known the man who has suffered so much for you. Pardon, my master and my friend.”
And her eyes darkened and she fell; but when the light returned she was held by him who kissed her eyes and her face.
So passed they three full days. But, on the third, two maids that watched them told the traitor Andret, and he put spies well-armed before the women’s rooms. And when Tristan would enter they cried:
“Back, fool!”
But he brandished his club laughing, and said:
“What! May I not kiss the Queen who loves me and awaits me now?”
And they feared him for a mad fool, and he passed in through the door.
Then, being with the Queen for the last time, he held her in his arms and said:
“Friend, I must fly, for they are wondering. I must fly, and perhaps shall never see you more. My death is near, and far from you my death will come of desire.”
“Oh friend,” she said, “fold your arms round me close and strain me so that our hearts may break and our souls go free at last. Take me to that happy place of which you told me long ago. The fields whence none return, but where great singers sing their songs for ever. Take me now.”