The Constable was embarrassed by the pertinacity of the Prelate, and began to give way to his arguments, though most reluctantly, and only because the habits and opinions of the time left him no means of combating his arguments, otherwise than by solicitation. "I admit," he said, "my engagements for the Crusade, nor have I—I repeat it-farther desire than that brief interval which may be necessary to place my important affairs in order. Meanwhile, my vassals, led by my nephew" "Promise that which is within thy power," said the Prelate. "Who knows whether, in resentment of thy seeking after other things than HIS most holy cause, thy nephew may not be called hence, even while we speak together ?" "God forbid!" said the Baron, starting up, as if about to fly to his nephew's assistance; then suddenly pausing, he turned on the Prelate a keen and investigating glance. "It is not well," he said, "that your reverence should thus trifle with the dangers which threaten my house. Damian is dear to me for his own good qualities—dear for the sake of my only brother.-May God forgive us both! he died when we were in unkindness with each other.-My lord, your words import that my beloved nephew suffers pain and incurs danger on account of my offences." The Archbishop perceived he had at length touched the chord to which his refractory penitent's heart-strings must needs vibrate. He replied with circumspection, as well knowing with whom he had to deal,-"Far be it from me to presume to interpret the counsels of Heaven! but we read in Scripture, that when the fathers eat sour grapes, the teeth of the children are set on edge. What so reasonable as that we should be punished for our pride and contumacy, by a judgment specially calculated to abate and bend that spirit of surquedry? You yourself best know if this disease clung to thy nephew before you had meditated defection from the banner of the Cross." Hugo de Lacy hastily recollected himself, and found that it was indeed true, that, until he thought of his union with Eveline, there had appeared no change in his nephew's health. * Self-importance, or assumption. His silence and confusion did not escape the artful Prelate. He took the hand of the warrior as he stood before him overwhelmed in doubt, lest his preference of the continuance of his own house to the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre should have been punished by the disease which threatened his nephew's life. "Come," he said, "noble De Lacy-the judgment provoked by a moment's presumption may be even yet averted by prayer and penitence. The dial went back at the prayer of the good King Hezekiah-down, down upon thy knees, and doubt not that, with confession and penance, and absolution, thou mayst yet atone for thy falling away from the cause of Heaven." Borne down by the dictates of the religion in which he had been educated, and by the fears lest his delay was punished by his nephew's indisposition and danger, the Constable sunk on his knees before the Prelate, whom he had shortly before well-nigh braved, confessed, as a sin to be deeply repented of, his purpose of delaying his departure for Palestine, and received, with patience at least, if not with willing acquiescence, the penance inflicted by the Archbishop; which consisted in a prohibition to proceed farther in his proposed wedlock with the Lady Eveline, until he was returned from Palestine, where he was bound by his vow to abide for the term of three years. "And now, noble De Lacy," said the Prelate, "once more my best beloved and most honoured friend-is not thy bosom lighter since thou hast thus nobly acquitted thee of thy debt to Heaven, and cleansed thy gallant spirit from those selfish and earthly stains which dimmed its brightness ?" The Constable sighed. "My happiest thoughts at this moment," he said, "would arise from knowledge that my nephew's health is amended." "Be not discomforted on the score of the noble Damian, your hopeful and valorous kinsman," said the Archbishop, "for well I trust shortly ye shall hear of his recovery; or that if it shall please God to remove him to a better world, the passage shall be so easy, and his arrival in yonder haven of bliss so speedy, that it were better for him to have died than to have lived." The Constable looked at him, as if to gather from his countenance more certainty of his nephew's fate than his words seemed to imply; and the Prelate, to escape being farther pressed on a subject on which he was perhaps conscious he had ventured too far, rung a silver bell which stood before him on the table, and commanded the chaplain who entered at the summons, that he should despatch a careful messenger to the lodging of Damian Lacy, to bring particular accounts of his health. 66 "A stranger," answered the chaplain, "just come from the sick chamber of the noble Damian Lacy, waits here even now to have speech of my Lord Constable." "Admit him instantly," said the Archbishop-"my mind tells me he brings us joyful tidings.-Never knew I such humble penitence,-such willing resignation of natural affections and desires to the doing of Heaven's service, but it was rewarded with a guerdon either temporal or spiritual." As he spoke, a man singularly dressed entered the apartment. His garments, of various colours, and showily disposed, were none of the newest or cleanest, neither were they altogether fitting for the presence in which he now stood. "How now, sirrah!" said the Prelate; "when was it that jugglers and minstrels pressed into the company of such as we without permission ?" "So please you," said the man, "my instant business was not with your reverend lordship, but with my lord the Constable, to whom I will hope that my good news may atone for my evil apparel." "Speak, sirrah, does my kinsman live?" said the Constable, eagerly. "And is like to live, my lord," answered the man-"a favourable crisis (so the leeches call it) hath taken place in his disorder, and they are no longer under any apprehensions for his life." "Now, God be praised, that hath granted me so much mercy!" said the Constable. "Amen, amen!" replied the Archbishop solemnly.-" About what period did this blessed change take place?" Scarcely a quarter of an hour since," said the messenger, a soft sleep fell on the sick youth, like dew upon a parched field in summer-he breathed freely-the burning heat abated --and, as I said, the leeches no longer fear for his life." "Marked you the hour, my Lord Constable ?" said the Bishop, with exultation-" even then you stooped to those counsels which Heaven suggested through the meanest of its servants! But two words avouching penitence-but one brief prayer and some kind saint has interceded for an instant hearing, and a liberal granting of thy petition. Noble Hugo,' he continued, grasping his hand in a species of enthusiasm, surely Heaven designs to work high things by the hand of him whose faults are thus readily forgiven-whose prayer is thus instantly heard. For this shall Te Deum Laudamus be said in each church, and each convent of Gloucester, ere the world be a day older." The Constable, no less joyful, though perhaps less able to perceive an especial providence in his nephew's recovery, expressed his gratitude to the messenger of the good tidings, by throwing him his purse. "I thank you, noble lord," said the man; "but if I stoop to pick up this taste of your bounty, it is only to restore it again to the donor." "How now, sir?" said the Constable, "methinks thy coat seems not so well lined as needs make thee spurn at such a guerdon." 66 "He that designs to catch larks, my lord," replied the messenger, must not close his net upon sparrows-I have a greater boon to ask of your Lordship, and therefore I decline your present gratuity." "A greater boon, ha!" said the Constable,-"I am no knight-errant, to bind myself by promise to grant it ere I know its import; but do thou come to my pavilion to-morrow, and thou wilt not find me unwilling to do what is reason." So saying, he took leave of the Prelate, and returned homeward, failing not to visit his nephew's lodging as he passed, where he received the same pleasant assurances which had been communicated by the messenger of the particoloured mantle. CHAPTER XIX. He was a minstrel-in his mood ARCHIBALD ARMSTRONG. THE events of the preceding day had been of a nature so interesting, and latterly so harassing, that the Constable felt weary as after a severely contested battle-field, and slept soundly until the earliest beams of dawn saluted him through the opening of the tent. It was then that, with a mingled feeling of pain and satisfaction, he began to review the change which had taken place in his condition since the preceding morning. He had then arisen an ardent bridegroom, anxious to find favour in the eyes of his fair bride, and scrupulous about his dress and appointments, as if he had been as young in years as in hopes and wishes. This was over, and he had now before him the painful task of leaving his betrothed for a term of years, even before wedlock had united them indissolubly, and of reflecting that she was exposed to all the dangers which assail female constancy in a situation thus critical. When the immediate anxiety for his nephew was removed, he was tempted to think that he had been something hasty in listening to the arguments of the Archbishop, and in believing that Damian's death or recovery depended upon his own accomplishing, to the letter, and without delay, his vow for the Holy Land. How many princes and kings," he thought to himself, " have assumed the Cross, and delayed or renounced it, yet lived and died in wealth and honour, without sustaining such a visitation as that with which Baldwin threatened me; and in what case or particular did such men deserve more indulgence than I? But the die is now cast, and it signifies little to inquire whether my obedience |