Meantime Timias, squire of Prince Arthur, seeking to trace the flying
damsel, overtook the grim forester, with whom he had a terrible
encounter. Sorely wounded in this fight, the poor squire lay in the
forest until found by the nymph Belphebe, a twin sister of Amoret,
who, in pity for his sufferings, bathed his wounds, laid healing herbs
upon them, and did all she could to save his life. To her
satisfaction, the wounded squire soon recovered consciousness, so she
conveyed him to her bower, where she and her nymphs attended him until
his wounds were entirely healed. During this illness Timias fell
deeply in love with Belphebe; but, deeming himself of too lowly
condition to declare his passion for a lady of high degree, he sorely
pined. Thereupon Belphebe renewed her efforts to cure him, until he
was strong enough to accompany her into the forest. They were hunting
there one day when Timias beheld a damsel fleeing from a misshapen
monster, whom he attacked, but against whom he could not prevail,
because the monster opposed the lady as a shield to every blow which
Timias tried to deal him. It was only by a feint, therefore, that
Timias made the monster drop the lady, and he would surely have been
slain by his opponent, had not his companion rescued him by a timely
arrow. A moment later Belphebe was horrified to see Timias madly
kissing the lady the monster had dropped. Without waiting to ascertain
why he was doing so, the angry nymph fled, but, had she lingered, she
would have discovered that Timias was kissing her own counterpart, for
he had rescued her twin sister Amoret, who, after wandering away from
the sleeping Britomart, had been seized by the monster from whose cave
she had just managed to escape.

Bewildered to see Belphebe--whom he thought he was embracing--rush
away, Timias now dropped Amoret to follow his charmer, but, owing to
his lack of familiarity with the forest pathways, he soon lost his