For
Sir Launcelot always avouched with his knightly word, unto the last day of
his life, that the Lady Guinevere was noble and worthy in all ways,
wherefore I choose to believe his knightly word and to hold that what he
said was true. For did not he become an hermit, and did not she become a
nun in their latter days, and were they not both broken of heart when King
Arthur departed from this life in so singular a manner as he did? Wherefore
I choose to believe good of such noble souls as they, and not evil of them.
[Sidenote: How Sir Launcelot dwelt at Camelot] Yet, though Sir Launcelot
thus abided at the court of the King, he ever loved the open world and a
life of adventure above all things else. For he had lived so long in the
Lake that these things of the sturdy life of out-of-doors never lost their
charm for him. So, though he found, for a while, great joy in being at the
court of the King (for there were many jousts held in his honor, and,
whithersoever he rode forth, men would say to one another: "Yonder goeth
that great knight, Sir Launcelot, who is the greatest knight in the
world"), yet he longed ever to be abroad in the wide world again.
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