or the rest of my life, rather than--"

She stopped, apparently out of respect; but Sir Kenneth could hear that
she was in much agitation.

"Forgive me," said Berengaria, a thoughtless but good-humoured princess
of the House of Navarre; "but what is the great offence, after all? A
young knight has been wiled hither--has stolen, or has been stolen, from
his post, which no one will disturb in his absence--for the sake of a
fair lady; for, to do your champion justice, sweet one, the wisdom of
Nectabanus could conjure him hither in no name but yours."

"Gracious Heaven! your Majesty does not say so?" said Edith, in a
voice of alarm quite different from the agitation she had previously
evinced,--"you cannot say so consistently with respect for your own
honour and for mine, your husband's kinswoman! Say you were jesting with
me, my royal mistress, and forgive me that I could, even for a moment,
think it possible you could be in earnest!"

"The Lady Edith," said the Queen, in a displeased tone of voice,
"regrets the ring we have won of her. We will restore the pledge to you,
gentle cousin; only you must not grudge us in turn a little triumph over
the wisdom which has been so often spread over us, as a banner over a
host."

"A triumph!" exclaimed Edith indignantly--"a triumph! The triumph will
be with the infidel, when he hears that the Queen of England can
make the reputation of her husband's kinswoman the subject of a light
frolic."

"You are angry, fair cousin, at losing your favourite ring," said the
Queen. "Come, since you grudge to pay your wager, we will renounce our
right; it was your name and that pledge brought him hither, and we care
not for the bait after the fish is caught."

"Madam," replied Edith impatiently, "you know well that your Grace could
not wish for anything of mine but it becomes instantly yours. But I
would give a bushel of rubies ere ring or name of mine had been used to
bring a brave man into a fault, and perhaps to disgrace and punishment."

"Oh, it is for the safety of our true knight that we fear!" said the
Queen. "You rate our power too low, fair cousin, when you speak of
a life being lost for a frolic of ours. O Lady Edith, others have
influence on the iron breasts of warriors as well as you--the heart
even of a lion is made of flesh, not of stone; and, believe me, I have
interest enough with Richard to save this knight, in whose fate Lady
Edith is so deeply concerned, from the penalty