‘Give me my sword,’ cried the Admiral, ’and with it I will soon find who is this feigned Clarissa, for here the true one stands before me.’ So saying, the furious Lord went with the chamberlain to Blanchefleur’s chamber, and when the thick silken curtains were drawn aside and the bright sunlight streamed in, he beheld the sleeping pair, and so fair was Fleur that even the Admiral in his fury doubted if he were not a maiden, but all the same with uplifted sword he prepared to smite both Fleur and Blanchefleur to the death, when suddenly they awoke, and seeing before them this furious Lord with uplifted sword they shed bitter tears, well knowing that they must die. ‘Miscreant!’ cried the Admiral to Fleur, ’who are you, and how dared you enter into my Tower? For so doing you shall die the death.’

‘Have mercy, sire,’ said Fleur, ’on the maiden Blanchefleur and on me, for we love each other with a love more true and tender than has e’er been known before!’

Then came forward the chamberlain and prayed his Lord to spare the captives that they might have due trial for their offence.

To this respite the Admiral consented, but, fearing lest the prisoners might escape, he commanded that they were to be bound with ropes until by the lords of all the land sentence should be passed upon them. Now as the Admiral’s yearly wedding festival was near at hand, the great lords of the realm, such as kings, dukes, counts and barons, were already assembled in Babylon; so they appeared without delay at the summons of their Lord in his glorious hall, which for splendour could not have been matched by Priam, King of Troy, for it was a full mile square, and crystal pillars supported its lofty dome. When, therefore, the Admiral was enthroned in majesty with all his lords around him, silence was commanded, while he thus addressed the assembly:

’My lords, hearken unto me, your King, and pass a sentence on these prisoners that will redound to my honour and your own. Behold this Blanchefleur, whom for a great price of ten times her own weight in gold I bought, thinking to promote her to honour by taking her as my one and only wedded wife on the day appointed for my marriage festival, and until that day came, that my eyes might be gladdened by her beauty, I brought her into my Maidens’ Tower and ordained that she and Clarissa, her companion, should wait morning and evening upon me with a fair linen towel and water in a golden bowl; yet scarce had this Blanchefleur been for four months within my Tower than she betrayed me for another, whom with herself I had in righteous indignation well-nigh slain. So now, my lords, it is for you to pass judgment just and unbending upon these offenders.’

Responding to the call of their King and Admiral, these lords with one consent passed sentence of death upon the prisoners, though differing among themselves as to the execution of the same. Some were for hanging, others for the bow-string, while others again proposed that the culprits should be torn asunder by wild horses; most, however, were in favour of burning, or perhaps drowning with a heavy stone round the neck: on one point, however, all agreed viz. that the guilty pair must die.

Then arose a certain king, Aliers by name, and thus spoke. ’It is a shame and disgrace,’ said he, ’to hear in a royal court such babel of voices, each crying for a different opinion. Be so good, my lords, as to depute one among you to speak for all. Moreover, having now heard the accusation of His Highness, it is but just to listen to the prisoners’ defence.’

‘Not so,’ cried Basier, King of Arabia, ’not so, my lords. If these prisoners have betrayed our Lord the Admiral, let them die unheard, like thieves caught in the act and punished red-handed without form of trial.’

The Admiral now commanded the prisoners to be produced, who when they appeared were very sad, regarding each other with tender pity.

‘My Lord,’ said Fleur to the Admiral, ’being guilty I am prepared to die, but spare my Blanchefleur, for she is innocent, seeing that without her knowledge I came within your Tower.’

‘My Lord,’ cried Blanchefleur, ’the guilt is mine, for had I not been in your Tower never would Fleur have sought to enter it. Moreover, it were shame that a king’s son should die for me, who am but the daughter of his handmaid.’

‘Not so, my Lord,’ cried Fleur again; ’let me die, that Blanchefleur may live.’

‘Be easy,’ said the Admiral, ’for with my own hand I will slay you both.’ So saying, he made for the prisoners with his drawn sword, whereupon Blanchefleur sprang forward and offered her neck for the blow, but was dragged back by Fleur, who with indignant tears exclaimed: ’What! Shall I, to my shame, suffer you, a woman, to die for me, who am a man, before the eyes of this great assembly?’ And so saying, Fleur extended his neck instead for the death-blow, but Blanchefleur in turn pulled him back by his clothes and ran in before him, holding out her neck. Thus for some time these lovers strove, each seeking to die before the other, until for pity the lords began to weep, and even the Admiral, feeling his heart relent, let the sword drop from his hands.

Then stepped forward a certain Duke, and in the name of all present made earnest petitions for the prisoners’ lives. ‘Methinks,’ said he, ’that for the safety and honour of our Lord the Admiral ’twere best to spare the prisoners, whose death would profit him not, whereas by freeing them on condition that Fleur revealed in what wise he stole into the Tower, His Highness may discover and punish his unfaithful servants.’

The Admiral, marking that all his lords were inclined to mercy, agreed to this Duke’s proposal and offered their lives to the captives if Fleur would but tell how he made his way into the Tower.’

’That, sire, replied Fleur, ’I may only do under promise of pardon to those who were my helpers.’

‘No! no!’ cried the Admiral, furious at the thought of further mercy. ‘They shall all die, every man among them.’

Then came forward a Bishop, who, falling at the Admiral’s feet, entreated that the gracious mercy of His Highness might be extended to all concerned; ‘for,’ said the Lord Bishop, ’it would please the assembled company better to hear the prisoners’ story than to behold their death.’ These words of the Bishop were supported by all the lords, who with one acclaim called on their King and Admiral to pardon the prisoners at the prayer of his faithful subjects. So the Admiral gave ear to the prayer of his lords and pardoned the lovers and all and sundry who were their helpers, and when this was done Fleur arose and told the whole sweet and touching story of Blanchefleur and himself from the time of their birth up to the moment when they were found together in the Tower, and when his tale was told Fleur knelt down before the Admiral and entreated His Highness with tears for the gift of Blanchefleur, for whose sake he had done and suffered so great things; seeing, moreover, that without her he could not live, nor indeed could she, if torn from him, find life endurable.

Then the Admiral took Fleur by the hand, and kissing him bade him sit by his side as beseemed the son of a king, and taking Blanchefleur also by the hand His Highness said to Fleur: ’Friend, herewith I give and grant to you the maiden Blanchefleur, together with pardon full and free of all offence committed by you against my kingly power and majesty.’

Overcome with joy and gratitude, those lovers sank at the feet of their benefactor, who raised and kissed them, and after that he made Fleur a knight according to the fashion of the land.