Previous: From Troilus and Criseyde, Book II, lines 1569-1596: Troilus lays sick

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	Eleyne, which that by the hond hir held,
1605	Took first the tale, and seyde, `Go we blyve;'
	And goodly on Criseyde she biheld,
	And seyde, `Joves lat him never thryve,
	That dooth yow harm, and bringe him sone of lyve!
	And yeve me sorwe, but he shal it rewe,
1610	If that I may, and alle folk be trewe.'

	`Tel thou thy neces cas,' quod Deiphebus
	To Pandarus, `for thou canst best it telle.' --
	`My lordes and my ladyes, it stant thus;
	What sholde I lenger,' quod he, `do yow dwelle?'
1615	He rong hem out a proces lyk a belle,
	Upon hir fo, that highte Poliphete,
	So heynous, that men mighte on it spete.

	Answerde of this ech worse of hem than other,
	And Poliphete they gonnen thus to warien,
1620	`Anhonged be swich oon, were he my brother;
	And so he shal, for it ne may not varien.'
	What sholde I lenger in this tale tarien?
	Pleynly, alle at ones, they hir highten
	To been hir helpe in al that ever they mighten.

1625	Spak than Eleyne, and seyde, `Pandarus,
	Woot ought my lord, my brother, this matere,
	I mene, Ector? Or woot it Troilus?'
	He seyde, `Ye, but wole ye now me here?
	Me thinketh this, sith Troilus is here,
1630	It were good, if that ye wolde assente,
	She tolde hirself him al this, er she wente.

	`For he wole have the more hir grief at herte,
	By cause, lo, that she a lady is;
	And, by your leve, I wol but right in sterte,
1635	And do yow wite, and that anon, ywis,
	If that he slepe, or wole ought here of this.'
	And in he lepte, and seyde him in his eere,
	`God have thy soule, ybrought have I thy bere!'

	To smylen of this gan tho Troilus,
1640	And Pandarus, withouten rekeninge,
	Out wente anoon to Eleyne and Deiphebus,
	And seyde hem, `So there be no taryinge,
	Ne more pres, he wol wel that ye bringe
	Criseyda, my lady, that is here;
1645	And as he may enduren, he wole here.

	`But wel ye woot, the chaumbre is but lyte,
	And fewe folk may lightly make it warm;
	Now loketh ye, (for I wol have no wyte,
	To bringe in prees that mighte doon him harm
1650	Or him disesen, for my bettre arm),
	Wher it be bet she byde til eft-soones;
	Now loketh ye, that knowen what to doon is.

	`I sey for me, best is, as I can knowe,
	That no wight in ne wente but ye tweye,
1655	But it were I, for I can, in a throwe,
	Reherce hir cas unlyk that she can seye;
	And after this, she may him ones preye
	To ben good lord, in short, and take hir leve;
	This may not muchel of his ese him reve.

1660	`And eek, for she is straunge, he wol forbere
	His ese, which that him thar nought for yow;
	Eek other thing that toucheth not to here,
	He wol me telle, I woot it wel right now,
	That secret is, and for the tounes prow.'
1665	And they, that nothing knewe of his entente,
	Withouten more, to Troilus in they wente.

	Eleyne, in al hir goodly softe wyse,
	Gan him saluwe, and womanly to pleye,
	And seyde, `Ywis, ye moste alweyes aryse!
1670	Now fayre brother, beth al hool, I preye!'
	And gan hir arm right over his sholder leye,
	And him with al hir wit to recomforte;
	As she best koude, she gan him to disporte.

	So after this quod she, `We yow biseke,
1675	My dere brother, Deiphebus and I,
	For love of God, and so dooth Pandare eke,
	To been good lord and freend, right hertely,
	Un-to Criseyde, which that certeinly
	Receyveth wrong, as woot wel here Pandare,
1680	That can hir cas wel bet than I declare.'

	This Pandarus gan newe his tunge affyle,
	And al hir cas reherce, and that anoon;
	Whan it was seyd, sone after, in a whyle,
	Quod Troilus, `As sone as I may goon,
1685	I wol right fayn with al my might ben oon,
	Have God my trouthe, hir cause to sustene.'
	`Good thrift have ye,' quod Eleyne the quene.

	Quod Pandarus, `And it your wille be
	That she may take hir leve, er that she go?'
1690	`O, elles god for-bede,' tho quod he,
	`If that she vouche sauf for to do so.'
	And with that word quod Troilus, `Ye two,
	Deiphebus, and my suster leef and dere,
	To yow have I to speke of o matere,

1695	`To been avysed by your reed the bettre': --
	And fond, as hap was, at his beddes heed,
	The copie of a tretis and a lettre,
	That Ector hadde him sent to axen reed,
	If swich a man was worthy to ben deed,
1700	Woot I nought who; but in a grisly wyse
	He preyede hem anoon on it avyse.

	Deiphebus gan this lettre to unfolde
	In ernest greet; so did Eleyne the quene;
	And rominge outward, fast it gan biholde,
1705	Downward a steyre, into an herber grene.
	This ilke thing they redden hem bitwene;
	And largely, the mountaunce of an houre,
	Thei gonne on it to reden and to poure.

Next: From Troilus and Criseyde, Book II, lines 1709-1757: Pandarus asks Criseyde to come with him to see Troilus