Ivanhoe

The feast, however, which was spread upon the board, needed no apologies

from the lord of the mansion. Swine's flesh, dressed in several modes,

appeared on the lower part of the board, as also that of fowls, deer,

goats, and hares, and various kinds of fish, together with huge loaves

and cakes of bread, and sundry confections made of fruits and honey.

The smaller sorts of wild-fowl, of which there was abundance, were

not served up in platters, but brought in upon small wooden spits or

broaches, and offered by the pages and domestics who bore them, to each

guest in succession, who cut from them such a portion as he pleased.

Beside each person of rank was placed a goblet of silver; the lower

board was accommodated with large drinking horns.

When the repast was about to commence, the major-domo, or steward,

suddenly raising his wand, said aloud,--"Forbear!--Place for the Lady

Rowena."

A side-door at the upper end of the hall now opened behind the banquet

table, and Rowena, followed by four female attendants, entered the

apartment. Cedric, though surprised, and perhaps not altogether

agreeably so, at his ward appearing in public on this occasion, hastened

to meet her, and to conduct her, with respectful ceremony, to the

elevated seat at his own right hand, appropriated to the lady of the

mansion. All stood up to receive her; and, replying to their courtesy by

a mute gesture of salutation, she moved gracefully forward to assume her

place at the board. Ere she had time to do so, the Templar whispered to

the Prior, "I shall wear no collar of gold of yours at the tournament.

The Chian wine is your own."

"Said I not so?" answered the Prior; "but check your raptures, the

Franklin observes you."

Unheeding this remonstrance, and accustomed only to act upon the

immediate impulse of his own wishes, Brian de Bois-Guilbert kept

his eyes riveted on the Saxon beauty, more striking perhaps to his

imagination, because differing widely from those of the Eastern

sultanas.

Formed in the best proportions of her sex, Rowena was tall in stature,

yet not so much so as to attract observation on account of superior

height. Her complexion was exquisitely fair, but the noble cast of her

head and features prevented the insipidity which sometimes attaches

to fair beauties. Her clear blue eye, which sat enshrined beneath a

graceful eyebrow of brown sufficiently marked to give expression to the

forehead, seemed capable to kindle as well as melt, to command as well

as to beseech. If mildness were the more natural expression of such a

combination of features, it was plain, that in the present instance, the

exercise of habitual superiority, and the reception of general homage,

had given to the Saxon lady a loftier character, which mingled with and

qualified that bestowed by nature. Her profuse hair, of a colour betwixt

brown and flaxen, was arranged in a fanciful and graceful manner in

numerous ringlets, to form which art had probably aided nature. These

locks were braided with gems, and, being worn at full length, intimated

the noble birth and free-born condition of the maiden. A golden chain,

to which was attached a small reliquary of the same metal, hung round

her neck. She wore bracelets on her arms, which were bare. Her dress was

an under-gown and kirtle of pale sea-green silk, over which hung a long

loose robe, which reached to the ground, having very wide sleeves, which

came down, however, very little below the elbow. This robe was crimson,

and manufactured out of the very finest wool. A veil of silk, interwoven

with gold, was attached to the upper part of it, which could be, at

the wearer's pleasure, either drawn over the face and bosom after the

Spanish fashion, or disposed as a sort of drapery round the shoulders.