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received my glove, and my champion, if a creature so desolate can find

one, must encounter your lance in the lists--yet you would assume the

air of my friend and protector! "

" Thy friend and protector, " said the Templar, gravely, " I will yet

be--but mark at what risk, or rather at what certainty, of dishonour;

and then blame me not if I make my stipulations, before I offer up all

that I have hitherto held dear, to save the life of a Jewish maiden. "

" Speak, " said Rebecca; " I understand thee not. "

" Well, then, " said Bois-Guilbert, " I will speak as freely as ever

did doting penitent to his ghostly father, when placed in the tricky

confessional. --Rebecca, if I appear not in these lists I lose fame and

rank--lose that which is the breath of my nostrils, the esteem, I mean,

in which I am held by my brethren, and the hopes I have of succeeding to

that mighty authority, which is now wielded by the bigoted dotard Lucas

de Beaumanoir, but of which I should make a different use. Such is my

certain doom, except I appear in arms against thy cause. Accursed be he

of Goodalricke, who baited this trap for me! and doubly accursed Albert

de Malvoisin, who withheld me from the resolution I had formed,

of hurling back the glove at the face of the superstitious and

superannuated fool, who listened to a charge so absurd, and against a

creature so high in mind, and so lovely in form as thou art! "

" And what now avails rant or flattery? " answered Rebecca. " Thou hast

made thy choice between causing to be shed the blood of an innocent

woman, or of endangering thine own earthly state and earthly hopes--What

avails it to reckon together? --thy choice is made. "

" No, Rebecca, " said the knight, in a softer tone, and drawing nearer

towards her; " my choice is NOT made--nay, mark, it is thine to make the

election. If I appear in the lists, I must maintain my name in arms;

and if I do so, championed or unchampioned, thou diest by the stake and

faggot, for there lives not the knight who hath coped with me in arms on

equal issue, or on terms of vantage, save Richard Coeur-de-Lion, and his

minion of Ivanhoe. Ivanhoe, as thou well knowest, is unable to bear

his corslet, and Richard is in a foreign prison. If I appear, then thou

diest, even although thy charms should instigate some hot-headed youth

to enter the lists in thy defence. "

" And what avails repeating this so often? " said Rebecca.

" Much, " replied the Templar; " for thou must learn to look at thy fate on

every side. "

" Well, then, turn the tapestry, " said the Jewess, " and let me see the

other side. "

" If I appear, " said Bois-Guilbert, " in the fatal lists, thou diest by a

slow and cruel death, in pain such as they say is destined to the guilty

hereafter. But if I appear not, then am I a degraded and dishonoured

knight, accused of witchcraft and of communion with infidels--the

illustrious name which has grown yet more so under my wearing, becomes a

hissing and a reproach. I lose fame, I lose honour, I lose the prospect

of such greatness as scarce emperors attain to--I sacrifice mighty

ambition, I destroy schemes built as high as the mountains with which

heathens say their heaven was once nearly scaled--and yet, Rebecca, " he

added, throwing himself at her feet, " this greatness will I sacrifice,

this fame will I renounce, this power will I forego, even now when it

is half within my grasp, if thou wilt say, Bois-Guilbert, I receive thee

for my lover. "

" Think not of such foolishness, Sir Knight, " answered Rebecca, " but

hasten to the Regent, the Queen Mother, and to Prince John--they cannot,

in honour to the English crown, allow of the proceedings of your Grand

Master. So shall you give me protection without sacrifice on your part,

or the pretext of requiring any requital from me. "

" With these I deal not, " he continued, holding the train of her

robe--" it is thee only I address; and what can counterbalance thy

choice? Bethink thee, were I a fiend, yet death is a worse, and it is

death who is my rival. "

" I weigh not these evils, " said Rebecca, afraid to provoke the wild

knight, yet equally determined neither to endure his passion, nor even

feign to endure it. " Be a man, be a Christian! If indeed thy faith

recommends that mercy which rather your tongues than your actions

pretend, save me from this dreadful death, without seeking a requital

which would change thy magnanimity into base barter. "

" No, damsel! " said the proud Templar, springing up, " thou shalt not thus

impose on me--if I renounce present fame and future ambition, I renounce

it for thy sake, and we will escape in company. Listen to me, Rebecca, "

he said, again softening his tone; " England, --Europe, --is not the

world. There are spheres in which we may act, ample enough even for my

ambition. We will go to Palestine, where Conrade, Marquis of Montserrat,

is my friend--a friend free as myself from the doting scruples which

fetter our free-born reason--rather with Saladin will we league

ourselves, than endure the scorn of the bigots whom we contemn. --I will

form new paths to greatness, " he continued, again traversing the room

with hasty strides--" Europe shall hear the loud step of him she has

driven from her sons! --Not the millions whom her crusaders send to

slaughter, can do so much to defend Palestine--not the sabres of the

thousands and ten thousands of Saracens can hew their way so deep into

that land for which nations are striving, as the strength and policy of

me and those brethren, who, in despite of yonder old bigot, will adhere

to me in good and evil. Thou shalt be a queen, Rebecca--on Mount Carmel

shall we pitch the throne which my valour will gain for you, and I will

exchange my long-desired batoon for a sceptre! "

" A dream, " said Rebecca; " an empty vision of the night, which, were it

a waking reality, affects me not. Enough, that the power which thou

mightest acquire, I will never share; nor hold I so light of country or

religious faith, as to esteem him who is willing to barter these ties,

and cast away the bonds of the Order of which he is a sworn member,

in order to gratify an unruly passion for the daughter of another

people. --Put not a price on my deliverance, Sir Knight--sell not a deed

of generosity--protect the oppressed for the sake of charity, and not

for a selfish advantage--Go to the throne of England; Richard will

listen to my appeal from these cruel men. "

" Never, Rebecca! " said the Templar, fiercely. " If I renounce my Order,

for thee alone will I renounce it--Ambition shall remain mine, if thou

refuse my love; I will not be fooled on all hands. --Stoop my crest to

Richard? --ask a boon of that heart of pride? --Never, Rebecca, will I

place the Order of the Temple at his feet in my person. I may forsake

the Order, I never will degrade or betray it. "

" Now God be gracious to me, " said Rebecca, " for the succour of man is

well-nigh hopeless! "

" It is indeed, " said the Templar; " for, proud as thou art, thou hast in

me found thy match. If I enter the lists with my spear in rest, think

not any human consideration shall prevent my putting forth my strength;

and think then upon thine own fate--to die the dreadful death of the

worst of criminals--to be consumed upon a blazing pile--dispersed to the

elements of which our strange forms are so mystically composed--not a

relic left of that graceful frame, from which we could say this lived

and moved! --Rebecca, it is not in woman to sustain this prospect--thou

wilt yield to my suit. "

" Bois-Guilbert, " answered the Jewess, " thou knowest not the heart

of woman, or hast only conversed with those who are lost to her best

feelings. I tell thee, proud Templar, that not in thy fiercest battles

hast thou displayed more of thy vaunted courage, than has been shown

by woman when called upon to suffer by affection or duty. I am myself a

woman, tenderly nurtured, naturally fearful of danger, and impatient

of pain--yet, when we enter those fatal lists, thou to fight and I to

suffer, I feel the strong assurance within me, that my courage shall

mount higher than thine. Farewell--I waste no more words on thee; the

time that remains on earth to the daughter of Jacob must be otherwise

spent--she must seek the Comforter, who may hide his face from his

people, but who ever opens his ear to the cry of those who seek him in

sincerity and in truth. "

" We part then thus? " said the Templar, after a short pause; " would to

Heaven that we had never met, or that thou hadst been noble in birth and

Christian in faith! --Nay, by Heaven! when I gaze on thee, and think when

and how we are next to meet, I could even wish myself one of thine own

degraded nation; my hand conversant with ingots and shekels, instead of

spear and shield; my head bent down before each petty noble, and my look

only terrible to the shivering and bankrupt debtor--this could I wish,

Rebecca, to be near to thee in life, and to escape the fearful share I

must have in thy death. "

" Thou hast spoken the Jew, " said Rebecca, " as the persecution of such

as thou art has made him. Heaven in ire has driven him from his country,

but industry has opened to him the only road to power and to influence,

which oppression has left unbarred. Read the ancient history of the

people of God, and tell me if those, by whom Jehovah wrought such

marvels among the nations, were then a people of misers and of

usurers! --And know, proud knight, we number names amongst us to which

your boasted northern nobility is as the gourd compared with the

cedar--names that ascend far back to those high times when the Divine

Presence shook the mercy-seat between the cherubim, and which derive

their splendour from no earthly prince, but from the awful Voice, which

bade their fathers be nearest of the congregation to the Vision--Such

were the princes of the House of Jacob. "

Rebecca's colour rose as she boasted the ancient glories of her race,

but faded as she added, with at sigh, " Such WERE the princes of Judah,

now such no more! --They are trampled down like the shorn grass, and

mixed with the mire of the ways. Yet are there those among them who

shame not such high descent, and of such shall be the daughter of Isaac

the son of Adonikam! Farewell! --I envy not thy blood-won honours--I envy

not thy barbarous descent from northern heathens--I envy thee not thy

faith, which is ever in thy mouth, but never in thy heart nor in thy

practice. "

" There is a spell on me, by Heaven! " said Bois-Guilbert. " I almost think

yon besotted skeleton spoke truth, and that the reluctance with which

I part from thee hath something in it more than is natural. --Fair

creature! " he said, approaching near her, but with great respect, --" so

young, so beautiful, so fearless of death! and yet doomed to die, and

with infamy and agony. Who would not weep for thee? --The tear, that has

been a stranger to these eyelids for twenty years, moistens them as I

gaze on thee. But it must be--nothing may now save thy life. Thou and

I are but the blind instruments of some irresistible fatality, that

hurries us along, like goodly vessels driving before the storm, which

are dashed against each other, and so perish. Forgive me, then, and let

us part, at least, as friends part. I have assailed thy resolution in

vain, and mine own is fixed as the adamantine decrees of fate. "

" Thus, " said Rebecca, " do men throw on fate the issue of their own wild

passions. But I do forgive thee, Bois-Guilbert, though the author of my

early death. There are noble things which cross over thy powerful mind;

but it is the garden of the sluggard, and the weeds have rushed up, and

conspired to choke the fair and wholesome blossom. "

" Yes, " said the Templar, " I am, Rebecca, as thou hast spoken me,

untaught, untamed--and proud, that, amidst a shoal of empty fools and

crafty bigots, I have retained the preeminent fortitude that places me

above them. I have been a child of battle from my youth upward, high

in my views, steady and inflexible in pursuing them. Such must I

remain--proud, inflexible, and unchanging; and of this the world shall

have proof. --But thou forgivest me, Rebecca? "

" As freely as ever victim forgave her executioner. "

" Farewell, then, " said the Templar, and left the apartment.

The Preceptor Albert waited impatiently in an adjacent chamber the

return of Bois-Guilbert.

" Thou hast tarried long, " he said; " I have been as if stretched on

red-hot iron with very impatience. What if the Grand Master, or his spy

Conrade, had come hither? I had paid dear for my complaisance. --But what

ails thee, brother? --Thy step totters, thy brow is as black as night.

Art thou well, Bois-Guilbert? "

" Ay, " answered the Templar, " as well as the wretch who is doomed to die

within an hour. --Nay, by the rood, not half so well--for there be those

in such state, who can lay down life like a cast-off garment. By Heaven,

Malvoisin, yonder girl hath well-nigh unmanned me. I am half resolved to

go to the Grand Master, abjure the Order to his very teeth, and refuse

to act the brutality which his tyranny has imposed on me. "

" Thou art mad, " answered Malvoisin; " thou mayst thus indeed utterly ruin

thyself, but canst not even find a chance thereby to save the life of

this Jewess, which seems so precious in thine eyes. Beaumanoir will

name another of the Order to defend his judgment in thy place, and the

accused will as assuredly perish as if thou hadst taken the duty imposed

on thee. "

" 'Tis false--I will myself take arms in her behalf, " answered the

Templar, haughtily; " and, should I do so, I think, Malvoisin, that thou

knowest not one of the Order, who will keep his saddle before the point

of my lance. "

" Ay, but thou forgettest, " said the wily adviser, " thou wilt have

neither leisure nor opportunity to execute this mad project. Go to Lucas

Beaumanoir, and say thou hast renounced thy vow of obedience, and see

how long the despotic old man will leave thee in personal freedom.

The words shall scarce have left thy lips, ere thou wilt either be an

hundred feet under ground, in the dungeon of the Preceptory, to abide

trial as a recreant knight; or, if his opinion holds concerning thy

possession, thou wilt be enjoying straw, darkness, and chains, in some

distant convent cell, stunned with exorcisms, and drenched with holy

water, to expel the foul fiend which hath obtained dominion over thee.

Thou must to the lists, Brian, or thou art a lost and dishonoured man. "

" I will break forth and fly, " said Bois-Guilbert--" fly to some distant

land, to which folly and fanaticism have not yet found their way. No

drop of the blood of this most excellent creature shall be spilled by my

sanction. "

" Thou canst not fly, " said the Preceptor; " thy ravings have excited

suspicion, and thou wilt not be permitted to leave the Preceptory. Go

and make the essay--present thyself before the gate, and command the

bridge to be lowered, and mark what answer thou shalt receive. --Thou are

surprised and offended; but is it not the better for thee? Wert thou

to fly, what would ensue but the reversal of thy arms, the dishonour of

thine ancestry, the degradation of thy rank? --Think on it. Where

shall thine old companions in arms hide their heads when Brian de

Bois-Guilbert, the best lance of the Templars, is proclaimed recreant,

amid the hisses of the assembled people? What grief will be at the Court

of France! With what joy will the haughty Richard hear the news, that

the knight that set him hard in Palestine, and well-nigh darkened his

renown, has lost fame and honour for a Jewish girl, whom he could not

even save by so costly a sacrifice! "

" Malvoisin, " said the Knight, " I thank thee--thou hast touched the

string at which my heart most readily thrills! --Come of it what may,

recreant shall never be added to the name of Bois-Guilbert. Would to

God, Richard, or any of his vaunting minions of England, would appear in

these lists! But they will be empty--no one will risk to break a lance

for the innocent, the forlorn. "

" The better for thee, if it prove so, " said the Preceptor; " if no

champion appears, it is not by thy means that this unlucky damsel shall

die, but by the doom of the Grand Master, with whom rests all the blame,

and who will count that blame for praise and commendation. "

" True, " said Bois-Guilbert; " if no champion appears, I am but a part

of the pageant, sitting indeed on horseback in the lists, but having no

part in what is to follow. "

" None whatever, " said Malvoisin; " no more than the armed image of Saint

George when it makes part of a procession. "

" Well, I will resume my resolution, " replied the haughty Templar. " She

has despised me--repulsed me--reviled me--And wherefore should I offer

up for her whatever of estimation I have in the opinion of others?

Malvoisin, I will appear in the lists. "

He left the apartment hastily as he uttered these words, and the

Preceptor followed, to watch and confirm him in his resolution; for in

Bois-Guilbert's fame he had himself a strong interest, expecting much

advantage from his being one day at the head of the Order, not to

mention the preferment of which Mont-Fitchet had given him hopes, on

condition he would forward the condemnation of the unfortunate Rebecca.

Yet although, in combating his friend's better feelings, he possessed

all the advantage which a wily, composed, selfish disposition has over

a man agitated by strong and contending passions, it required all

Malvoisin's art to keep Bois-Guilbert steady to the purpose he had

prevailed on him to adopt. He was obliged to watch him closely

to prevent his resuming his purpose of flight, to intercept his

communication with the Grand Master, lest he should come to an open

rupture with his Superior, and to renew, from time to time, the various

arguments by which he endeavoured to show, that, in appearing as

champion on this occasion, Bois-Guilbert, without either accelerating or

ensuring the fate of Rebecca, would follow the only course by which he

could save himself from degradation and disgrace.

CHAPTER XL

Shadows avaunt! --Richard's himself again.

Richard III

When the Black Knight--for it becomes necessary to resume the train of

his adventures--left the Trysting-tree of the generous Outlaw, he held

his way straight to a neighbouring religious house, of small extent

and revenue, called the Priory of Saint Botolph, to which the wounded

Ivanhoe had been removed when the castle was taken, under the guidance

of the faithful Gurth, and the magnanimous Wamba. It is unnecessary at

present to mention what took place in the interim betwixt Wilfred

and his deliverer; suffice it to say, that after long and grave

communication, messengers were dispatched by the Prior in several

directions, and that on the succeeding morning the Black Knight was

about to set forth on his journey, accompanied by the jester Wamba, who

attended as his guide.

" We will meet, " he said to Ivanhoe, " at Coningsburgh, the castle of the

deceased Athelstane, since there thy father Cedric holds the funeral

feast for his noble relation. I would see your Saxon kindred together,

Sir Wilfred, and become better acquainted with them than heretofore.

Thou also wilt meet me; and it shall be my task to reconcile thee to thy

father. "

So saying, he took an affectionate farewell of Ivanhoe, who expressed an

anxious desire to attend upon his deliverer. But the Black Knight would

not listen to the proposal.

" Rest this day; thou wilt have scarce strength enough to travel on the

next. I will have no guide with me but honest Wamba, who can play priest

or fool as I shall be most in the humour. "

" And I, " said Wamba, " will attend you with all my heart. I would fain

see the feasting at the funeral of Athelstane; for, if it be not full

and frequent, he will rise from the dead to rebuke cook, sewer, and

cupbearer; and that were a sight worth seeing. Always, Sir Knight, I

will trust your valour with making my excuse to my master Cedric, in

case mine own wit should fail. "

" And how should my poor valour succeed, Sir Jester, when thy light wit

halts? --resolve me that. "

" Wit, Sir Knight, " replied the Jester, " may do much. He is a quick,

apprehensive knave, who sees his neighbours blind side, and knows how

to keep the lee-gage when his passions are blowing high. But valour is a

sturdy fellow, that makes all split. He rows against both wind and tide,

and makes way notwithstanding; and, therefore, good Sir Knight, while I

take advantage of the fair weather in our noble master's temper, I will

expect you to bestir yourself when it grows rough. "

" Sir Knight of the Fetterlock, since it is your pleasure so to be

distinguished, " said Ivanhoe, " I fear me you have chosen a talkative and

a troublesome fool to be your guide. But he knows every path and alley

in the woods as well as e'er a hunter who frequents them; and the poor

knave, as thou hast partly seen, is as faithful as steel. "

" Nay, " said the Knight, " an he have the gift of showing my road, I shall

not grumble with him that he desires to make it pleasant. --Fare

thee well, kind Wilfred--I charge thee not to attempt to travel till

to-morrow at earliest. "

So saying, he extended his hand to Ivanhoe, who pressed it to his lips,

took leave of the Prior, mounted his horse, and departed, with Wamba for

his companion. Ivanhoe followed them with his eyes, until they were

lost in the shades of the surrounding forest, and then returned into the

convent.

But shortly after matin-song, he requested to see the Prior. The old man

came in haste, and enquired anxiously after the state of his health.

" It is better, " he said, " than my fondest hope could have anticipated;

either my wound has been slighter than the effusion of blood led me to

suppose, or this balsam hath wrought a wonderful cure upon it. I feel

already as if I could bear my corslet; and so much the better, for

thoughts pass in my mind which render me unwilling to remain here longer

in inactivity. "

" Now, the saints forbid, " said the Prior, " that the son of the Saxon

Cedric should leave our convent ere his wounds were healed! It were

shame to our profession were we to suffer it. "

" Nor would I desire to leave your hospitable roof, venerable father, "

said Ivanhoe, " did I not feel myself able to endure the journey, and

compelled to undertake it. "

" And what can have urged you to so sudden a departure? " said the Prior.

" Have you never, holy father, " answered the Knight, " felt an

apprehension of approaching evil, for which you in vain attempted to

assign a cause? --Have you never found your mind darkened, like the sunny

landscape, by the sudden cloud, which augurs a coming tempest? --And

thinkest thou not that such impulses are deserving of attention, as

being the hints of our guardian spirits, that danger is impending? "

" I may not deny, " said the Prior, crossing himself, " that such things

have been, and have been of Heaven; but then such communications have

had a visibly useful scope and tendency. But thou, wounded as thou art,

what avails it thou shouldst follow the steps of him whom thou couldst

not aid, were he to be assaulted? "

" Prior, " said Ivanhoe, " thou dost mistake--I am stout enough to exchange

buffets with any who will challenge me to such a traffic--But were it

otherwise, may I not aid him were he in danger, by other means than by

force of arms? It is but too well known that the Saxons love not the

Norman race, and who knows what may be the issue, if he break in upon

them when their hearts are irritated by the death of Athelstane,

and their heads heated by the carousal in which they will indulge

themselves? I hold his entrance among them at such a moment most

perilous, and I am resolved to share or avert the danger; which, that I

may the better do, I would crave of thee the use of some palfrey whose

pace may be softer than that of my 'destrier'. " [56]

" Surely, " said the worthy churchman; " you shall have mine own ambling

jennet, and I would it ambled as easy for your sake as that of the Abbot

of Saint Albans. Yet this will I say for Malkin, for so I call her, that

unless you were to borrow a ride on the juggler's steed that paces a

hornpipe amongst the eggs, you could not go a journey on a creature so

gentle and smooth-paced. I have composed many a homily on her back, to

the edification of my brethren of the convent, and many poor Christian

souls. "

" I pray you, reverend father, " said Ivanhoe, " let Malkin be got ready

instantly, and bid Gurth attend me with mine arms. "

" Nay, but fair sir, " said the Prior, " I pray you to remember that Malkin

hath as little skill in arms as her master, and that I warrant not her

enduring the sight or weight of your full panoply. O, Malkin, I

promise you, is a beast of judgment, and will contend against any undue

weight--I did but borrow the 'Fructus Temporum' from the priest of Saint

Bees, and I promise you she would not stir from the gate until I had

exchanged the huge volume for my little breviary. "

" Trust me, holy father, " said Ivanhoe, " I will not distress her with too

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