e troop immediately
hastened their return towards the city, where their appearance excited
no small consternation. The king, having mounted a watch-tower, had
descried his small garrison of knights engaged in a distant action with
very superior numbers; after which, seeing a large body in full march
for the city, he concluded Eliduc had betrayed him; caused the gates to
be shut, the alarm to be sounded, and commanded the citizens to defend
the walls. But being quickly undeceived, he welcomed his deliverer with
transports of joy and gratitude; and, after receiving his oath of
allegiance for a year, invested him with the supreme military command,
and assigned ample pensions to himself and all his attendants. The
king's daughter, the beautiful Guilliadun, became anxious in her turn to
behold the extraordinary stranger, who had confirmed her father in his
throne, by means of a troop of knights, who scarcely appeared competent
to the defence of the walls. She invited him to an audience, to which he
was formally introduced by one of her chamberlains; seated him near her
on a bed; and entered into conversation on a variety of indifferent
topics. But during the discourse, she could not help remarking that this
consummate warrior and statesman was young and handsome; and found her
heart completely engaged. After sighing and turning pale, and making
many reflections on the indelicacy of avowing her passion, she would
probably have done it, if the knight had not, by respectfully taking
leave, put an end to the interview. He, in the mean time, had not been
blind to her perfections, her youth, beauty, simplicity and frankness of
character, and, above all, those artless sighs which assured him of her
affection, had made an indelible impression on his heart. At length the
image of his wife, and his solemn assurances of fidelity, interrupted
the dream of happiness in which he had involuntarily indulged; but the
interruption became painful; and while he mentally repeated the promise
of adhering to duty, he felt that promise disavowed by his inclination.
Guilliadun, after a sleepless night, found it impossible to keep her
secret, and having summoned a trusty chamberlain, confided to him her
sudden, and, as she thought, inexplicable passion. After a long
discussion, she at length, at his suggestion, dispatched him to the
knight with the usual salutations of courtesy, and with the present of
her ring and a rich girdle. Eliduc immediately rep