his ruder occupations. His nature was capable of great tenderness, as of
great ferocity; and his heart smote him when he looked at the fair cheek
of his lady, and saw that even his presence did not suffice to bring
back the smile and the fresh hues of old. Often he cursed that fatal
oath of his knightly order which forbade him to wed, though with one
more than his equal; and remorse embittered his happiest hours. That
gentle lady in that robber hold, severed from all she had been taught
most to prize--mother, friends, and fair fame--only loved her seducer
the more intensely; only the more concentrated upon one object all the
womanly and tender feelings denied every other and less sinful vent.
But she felt her shame, though she sought to conceal it, and a yet
more gnawing grief than even that of shame contributed to prey upon her
spirits and undermine her health. Yet, withal, in Montreal's presence
she was happy, even in regret; and in her declining health she had at
least a consolation in the hope to die while his love was undiminished.
Sometimes they made short excursions, for the disturbed state of the
country forbade them to wander far from the castle, through the sunny
woods, and along the glassy sea, which make the charm of that delicious
scenery; and that mixture of the savage with the tender, the wild
escort, the tent in some green glade in the woods at noon, the lute and
voice of Adeline, with the fierce soldiers grouped and listening at the
distance, might have well suited the verse of Ariosto, and harmonised
singularly with that strange, disordered, yet chivalric time, in which
the Classic South became the seat of the Northern Romance. Still,
however, Montreal maintained his secret intercourse with the Hungarian
king, and, plunged in new projects, willingly forsook for the present
all his designs on Rome. Yet deemed he that his more august ambition
was only delayed, and, bright in the more distant prospects of his
adventurous career, rose the Capitol of Rome and shone the sceptre of
the Caesars.

One day, as Montreal, with a small troop in attendance, passed on
horseback near the walls of Terracina, the gates were suddenly thrown
open, and a numerous throng issued forth, preceded by a singular figure,
whose steps they followed bareheaded and with loud blessings; a train
of monks closed the procession, chanting a hymn, of which the concluding
words were as follows:--

Beauteous on the mountains--lo, The feet