"I pray you, Sir Knight," said Rowena, "to cease a language so commonly

used by strolling minstrels, that it becomes not the mouth of knights or

nobles. Certes, you constrain me to sit down, since you enter upon such

commonplace terms, of which each vile crowder hath a stock that might

last from hence to Christmas."

"Proud damsel," said De Bracy, incensed at finding his gallant style

procured him nothing but contempt--"proud damsel, thou shalt be as

proudly encountered. Know then, that I have supported my pretensions to

your hand in the way that best suited thy character. It is meeter for

thy humour to be wooed with bow and bill, than in set terms, and in

courtly language."

"Courtesy of tongue," said Rowena, "when it is used to veil churlishness

of deed, is but a knight's girdle around the breast of a base clown. I

wonder not that the restraint appears to gall you--more it were for your

honour to have retained the dress and language of an outlaw, than

to veil the deeds of one under an affectation of gentle language and

demeanour."

"You counsel well, lady," said the Norman; "and in the bold language

which best justifies bold action I tell thee, thou shalt never leave

this castle, or thou shalt leave it as Maurice de Bracy's wife. I am

not wont to be baffled in my enterprises, nor needs a Norman noble

scrupulously to vindicate his conduct to the Saxon maiden whom he

distinguishes by the offer of his hand. Thou art proud, Rowena, and thou

art the fitter to be my wife. By what other means couldst thou be raised

to high honour and to princely place, saving by my alliance? How else

wouldst thou escape from the mean precincts of a country grange, where

Saxons herd with the swine which form their wealth, to take thy seat,

honoured as thou shouldst be, and shalt be, amid all in England that is

distinguished by beauty, or dignified by power?"

"Sir Knight," replied Rowena, "the grange which you contemn hath been

my shelter from infancy; and, trust me, when I leave it--should that

day ever arrive--it shall be with one who has not learnt to despise the

dwelling and manners in which I have been brought up."

"I guess your meaning, lady," said De Bracy, "though you may think it

lies too obscure for my apprehension. But dream not, that Richard Coeur

de Lion will ever resume his throne, far less that Wilfred of Ivanhoe,

his minion, will ever lead thee to his footstool, to be there welcomed

as the bride of a favourite. Another suitor might feel jealousy while he

touched this string; but my firm purpose cannot be changed by a passion

so childish and so hopeless. Know, lady, that this rival is in my power,

and that it rests but with me to betray the secret of his being within

the castle to Front-de-Boeuf, whose jealousy will be more fatal than

mine."




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