off your marriage with my sister, whom you are bound by a
most solemn oath to marry. But of this you may be sure, that if you
abandon her and take any other wife, you will find me, as long as you
live, your most determined and mortal enemy."

This declaration aroused Richard's temper, and brought the affair at
once to a crisis. Richard declared to Philip that he never would marry
his sister.

"My father," said he, "kept her from me for many years because he
loved her himself, and she returned his love, and now I will never
have any thing to do with her. I am ready to prove to you the truth of
what I say."

So Richard brought forward what he called the proofs of the very
intimate relations which had subsisted between Alice and his father.
Whether there was any thing genuine or conclusive in these proofs is
not known. At all events, they made a very deep and painful
impression on Philip. The disclosure was, as one of the writers of
those times says, "like a nail driven directly through his heart."

After a while, the two kings concluded to settle the difficulty by a
sort of compromise. Philip agreed to give up all claims on the part of
Alice to Richard in consideration of a sum of money which Richard was
to pay. Richard was to pay two thousand marks[D] a year for five
years, and was on that condition to be allowed to marry any one he
chose. He was also to restore to Philip the fortresses and estates
which had been conveyed to his father as Alice's dowry at the time of
her betrothment to Richard in her infancy.

[Footnote D: The mark is about three dollars.]

This agreement, being thus made, was confirmed by a great profusion of
oaths, sworn with all solemnity, and the affair was considered as
settled.

Still, Richard seems to have been a little disinclined to bring out
Berengaria at once from her retreat, and let Philip know suddenly how
far his arrangements for marrying another lady had gone; so he
concluded to wait, before publicly announcing his intended marriage,
until Philip should have sailed for the East. Philip was now, indeed,
nearly ready to go; his fleet and his armament, being smaller than
Richard's, could be dispatched earlier; so Richard devoted himself
very earnestly to the work of facilitating and hastening his ally's
departure, determining that immediately afterward he would bring
forward his bride and celebrate his marriage.

It is not, however, certain that he kept his intended marriage with