"T. H. White - The Once and Future King" - читать интересную книгу автора (White T.H)

was, and she shall stand in nae peril for nothing that was surmised afore this day. This is the Pope's will.
But thou, Sir Lancelot, thou shall go forth banished out of this kingdom within fifteen days, a revealed
recreant; and, by God, we shall follow thee after that time, to pull down the strongest castle of France
about thine ears."
"Gawaine," he asked painfully, "don't follow me. I will accept the banishment. I will live in my French
castles. But don't follow me, Gawaine. Don't keep the war forever."
"Leave that to thy betters. Such castles are the King's."
"If you follow me, Gawaine, don't challenge me: don't let Arthur come against me. I can't fight against
my friends. Gawaine, for God's sake don't make us fight."
"Leave talking, man. Deliver the Queen and remove yer body quickly from this court."
Lancelot pulled himself together with a sort of final care. He looked from England to his tormentor. He
turned slowly to the Queen, who had not spoken. He saw her ridiculous olive branch, her clumsiness and
silly clothes. With a lifted head he raised their tragedy to nobleness and gravity.
"Well, madam, it seems that we must part."
He took her by the hand, led her to the middle of the room, translating her into his remembered lady.

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Something in his grip, in his step, in the fullness of his voice, made her bloom againтАФit was their last
partnershipтАФinto the Rose of England. He lifted her to a crest of conquest which they had forgotten. As
stately as a dance, the gargoyle took her to the centre. There, poising her flushing, the arch-stone of the
realm, he made an end. It was the last time that Sir Lancelot, King Arthur and Queen Guenever were to
be together.
"My King and my old friends, a word before I go. My sentence is to leave this fellowship, which I have
served in all my life. It is to depart your country, and to be pursued with war. I stand then, for the last
time, as the Queen's champion. I stand to tell you, lady and madam, in presence of all this court, that if
any danger may threaten you in future, then one poor arm will come from France to defend youтАФand so
let all remember."
He kissed her fingers deliberately, turned stiffly, and began to pace in silence down the long length of
the room. His future closed about him as he went.
Fifteen days to Dover was the time assigned to any felon who had taken sanctuary. He would have to do
it in the felon's way "ungirt, unshod, bareheaded, in his bare shirt as if he were hanged on a gallows." He
would have to walk in the middle of the road clutching the small cross in his hand, which was the
symbol of his sanctuary. Probably Gawaine or his men would be skulking at his heels, in case for a
moment he should lay the talisman aside. But still, whether in shirt or mail, he would be their old
Commander. He would walk steadily, without haste, looking straight in front of him. As he passed the
threshold, the look of endurance was already on him. People felt tawdry in the Justice Room when the
old soldier had left it, and many eyed the red whips sideways, with a secret dread.


11
Guenever sat in the Queen's chamber at Carlisle Castle. The huge bed had been re-made as a settee. It
looked tidy and rectangular under its canopy, so that you were shy of sitting down. There was a fireplace
with a little pot warming beside it, a high chair, and the reading desk. Also there was a book to read,
perhaps the Galeotto one which Dante mentions. It had cost the same price as ninety oxen, but, as
Guenever had already read it seven times, it was no longer exciting, A late fall of snow threw the
evening light upward into the chamber, shining on the ceiling more than on the floor, so as to alter the
usual shadows. They were blue, and in the wrong places. The great lady was sewing, sitting rather