"I?
I was thinking of the East, where the sun shines ever and the seas are blue as my girdle stones, and men are full of strange learning--" "And women are men's slaves!" interrupted Wulf.

"Still, it is natural that you should think of the East who have that blood in your veins, and high blood, if all tales be true.

Say, Princess"-- and he bowed the knee to her with an affectation of mockery which could not hide his earnest reverence--"say, Princess, my cousin, granddaughter of Ayoub and niece of the mighty monarch, Yusuf Salah-ed-din, do you wish to leave this pale land and visit your dominions in Egypt and in Syria ?" She listened, and at his words her eyes seemed to take fire, the stately form to erect itself, the breast to heave, and the thin nostrils to grow wider as though they scented some sweet, remembered perfume.

Indeed, at that moment, standing there on the promontory above the seas, Rosamund looked a very queen.
Presently she answered him with another question.
"And how would they greet me there, Wulf, who am a Norman D'Arcy and a Christian maid ?" "The first they would forgive you, since that blood is none so ill either, and for the second--why, faiths can be changed." Then it was that Godwin spoke for the first time.
"Wulf, Wulf," he said sternly, "keep watch upon your tongue, for there are things that should not be said even as a silly jest.
See you, I love my cousin here better than aught else upon the earth--" "There, at least, we agree," broke in Wulf.
"Better than aught else on the earth," repeated Godwin; "but, by the Holy Blood and by St.Peter, at whose shrine we are, I would kill her with my own hand before her lips kissed the book of the false prophet." "Or any of his followers," muttered Wulf to himself, but fortunately, perhaps, too low for either of his companions to hear.

Aloud he said, "You understand, Rosamund, you must be careful, for Godwin ever keeps his word, and that would be but a poor end for so much birth and beauty and wisdom." "Oh, cease mocking, Wulf," she answered, laying her hand lightly on the tunic that hid his shirt of mail.