t."

"And you saw him then, cousin?" said the king, biting his lips to keep
down his passion. "Where?"

"In the tent of her majesty, the queen."

"Of your royal consort! Now, by my father's soul, Edith, thou shalt rue
this thy life long in a monastery."

"My liege," said Edith, "your greatness licences tyranny. My honour is
as little touched as yours, and my lady, the queen, can prove it if she
thinks fit. But I have not come here to excuse myself or inculpate
others--"

The king was about to answer with much anger, when a Carmelite monk
entered hastily, and flinging himself on his knees before the king,
conjured him to stop the execution. It was the hermit of Engaddi, and to
the king's fierce refusal to listen, he said with irritation:

"Thou art setting that mischief on foot thou wilt afterwards wish thou
hadst stopped, though it had cost thee a limb. Rash, blinded man,
forbear!"

"Away, away," cried the king, stamping. "The sun has risen on the
dishonour of England, and it is not yet avenged. Ladies and priests
withdraw, for by St. George, I swear--"

"Swear _not!_" said the voice of one who now entered--

"Ho! my learned Hakim," said the king, "come, I hope, to tax our
generosity."

"I come to request instant speech with you--instant."

"Retire then, Berengaria," said the monarch. "Nay, renew not thy
importunities--nay, this I give to thee--the execution shall not be till
high noon. Edith, go--if you are wise."

The females hurried from the tent, and El Hakim made his humble prayer
for the knight about to die. The king hardening himself as the leech
assumed a more lofty tone:

"Know, then," he said, "that through every court of Europe and Asia will
I denounce thee as thankless and ungenerous."

Richard turned fiercely from him.

"Hakim, thou hast chosen thy boon, and I may not, king-like, refuse
thee. Take this Scot, therefore, use him as thy bond-slave if thou wilt,
only let him beware how he comes before the eyes of Richard. Is there
aught else in which I may do thee pleasure?"

"Let me touch that victorious hand," said the sage, "in token that
should Adonbec El Hakim hereafter demand a boon of Richard of England,
he may do so."

"Thou hast hand and glove upon it, man," replied Richard.

"May thy days be multiplied," answered the Hakim.

"Strange pertinacity," said the King, gazing after him as he departed,
"in this Hakim to interfere between this Scot and the chastisement he
has merited