It is a mighty place upon the banks of Litani and Orontes, and after its military governor--for that rule he would not give a Christian--you will be first in it, beneath the seal of Saladin--the surest title in all the earth.

Say, will you go and queen it there ?" Rosamund gazed at the gleaming gems and the writings that made her royal, and her eyes flashed and her breast heaved, as they had done by the church of St.Peter on the Essex coast.

Thrice she looked while they watched her, then turned her head as from the bait of some great temptation and answered one word only--"Nay." "Well spoken," said her father, who knew her blood and its longings.

"At least, had the 'nay' been 'yea,' you must have gone alone.

Give me ink and parchment, Godwin." They were brought, and he wrote: "To the Sultan Saladin, from Andrew D'Arcy and his daughter Rosamund.
"We have received your letter, and we answer that where we are there we will bide in such state as God has given us.
Nevertheless, we thank you, Sultan, since we believe you honest, and we wish you well, except in your wars against the Cross.