Sir Joseph of Armathea."

"Lad, it matters not as to who and what I am. It is of you, we are now
concerned. Dear, dear, lad, they shall name you again and the name
which shall be yours shall ever after be symbolic with the very best
that manhood holds."

"Go your way, now. For I must speak with many more this day ere I
return. A knight comes but now, with whom I must hold counsel. And I
would fain speak to him, alone."

"True, father, I had best go. For Sir Percival will think me
thoughtless, if not worse. As to what you have said, I can do but that
best which is in me and ever seek to make that best better. And so, I
ask your blessing."

The boy knelt. The monk, lean, black cowled, eyes glowing with a light
that held the supernatural, placed hand upon the boy's head and gave
him blessing. So then the boy mounted horse and was away.

He rode hard for he held great anxiety to return quickly. And all the
time he rode he thought of the things the strange monk had told him,
Some of it, he did not altogether understand. That was because of his
youthfulness. It was to come back to him when many months had passed.
This however, he knew, he was destined to make search for the Holy
Grail. For so, the holy man had ordained.

Sir Percival, a bit anxious, was waiting for the lad when he returned.

"I went far and then fell asleep," Allan explained. "Nor did I awaken