ungrateful, to scorn him who, amidst blood and flames, would have saved her life at the risk of his own. By Heaven, Malvoisin! I abode until roof and rafters crackled and crashed around me. I was the butt of an hundred arrows; they rattled on mine armour like hail-stones against a latticed casement, and the only use I made of my shield was for her protection. This did I endure for her; and now the self-willed girl upbraids me that I did not leave her to perish, and refuses me not only the slightest proof of gratitude, but even the most distant hopes that ever she will be brought to grant any. The devil, that possessed her race with obstinacy, has concentered its full force in her single person!"
"The devil," said the Preceptor, "I think possessed you both. How oft have I preached to you caution, if not continence? Did I not tell you that there were willing enough Christian damsels to be met with, who would think it sin to refuse so brave a knight le don d'amoureux merci? and you must needs anchor your affection on a wilful, obstinate Jewess? By the mass, I
