Nay, sir, interrupted Arabella, though I do not refuse to give you all the praises your gallant defence of yourself against five hundred men deserves; yet I cannot agree with that lady, in saying, it was the most unequal combat that ever was fought: for, do but reflect, I beseech you, upon that which the brave prince of Mauritania sustained against twice that number of men, with no other arms than his sword; and, you having been in battle that day, was, as I conceive, completely armed. The young prince of Egypt, accompanied only by the valiant, but indiscreet, Cepio his friend, engaged all the king of Armenia's guards, and put them all to flight. The courageous Ariobarsanes scorned to turn his back upon a whole army; not to mention the invincible Artaban, whom a thousand armies together could not have made to turn.
Be pleased to observe, madam, said Sir George, that to the end I may faithfully recount my history, I am under the necessity of repeating things which, haply, may seem too advantageous for a man to say of himself: therefore I indeed greatly approve of the custom, which, no doubt, this inconveniency introduced, of a squire, who is thoroughly instructed with the secrets of his master's heart, relating his adventures, and giving a proper eulogium of his rare valour, without being in danger of offending the modesty of the renowned knight; who, as you know, madam, upon those occasions, commodiously slips away.
It being, however, this lady's opinion, that no man ever undertook a more hazardous combat, or with greater odds against him, she did not fail to express her admiration of it in very high terms.
The noise of this accident, pursued she, was soon spread over the whole town; and the beautiful Sydimiris, Marcomire's sister, hearing that her brother was wounded, as it was thought, to death, and that the person who killed him was taken prisoner, she flew out to meet her wounded brother, distracted with grief, and vowing to have the severest tortures executed on him who had thus barbarously murdered her brother. Those who bore that unhappy prince, having brought him into the house, his wounds were searched; and the surgeons declared they were very dangerous.
Sydimiris, hearing this, redoubled her complaints and vows of vengeance against you: her brother having then the chief authority in the place, she commanded, in his name, to have you brought hither, and to be most strictly guarded; determined, if her brother died, to sacrifice you to his ghost.
Full of these sanguinary resolutions, she left his chamber, having seen him laid in bed, and his wounds dressed; but passing along a gallery to her own apartment, she met the persons who were bringing you to the room that was to be your prison. You was not, pursued the lady, yet recovered from your swoon, so that they carried you like one that was dead: they had taken off your helmet to give you air; by which means your face being quite uncovered, pale, languishing, and your eyes closed, as if in death, presented the most moving, and, at the same time, most pleasing object in the world.
Sydimiris, who stopped, and for a moment eagerly gazed upon you, lost all of a sudden the fierceness which before had animated her against you; and lifting up her eyes to view those men that carried you—
Are you sure, said she to them, that this is the person who wounded my brother?
Yes, madam, replied one of them: this must be he, since there was no other in his company; and he alone sustained the attack of five hundred men; and would probably not have left one of them alive, had not his sword, by breaking, put it into our power to take him prisoner.
Carry him away, said Sydimiris; but let his wounds be dressed, and let him be carefully looked to, that, if my brother dies, he may be punished as he deserves.