"Well, we will see," replied Sir Simeon; "it takes some time to break a horse or hound, or train a hawk; and you shall have space allowed you. All soft and kindly entertainment shall you have. With me shall you eat and drink, and talk and sing, if you will. You shall have courtship, like a lady of the land, to try whether gentle means will do. But mark me, pretty Ella, if they will not, we must try others. I am resolved that you shall be mine by force, if not by kindness."
"You dare not use it," answered Ella Brune.
"And why not?" demanded the knight, with a haughty smile; "I have done more daring things than vanquish a coy maiden."
"I know you have," said Ella Brune, in a grave and fearless tone; "but I will tell you why not. First, because, whatever be your care, it would come to the King's ears, and you would pay for it with your head. Next, because I carry about me wherewithal to defend myself;" and, putting her hand into her bosom, she drew forth a small short broad-bladed knife, in a silver case. "This is my only friend left me here," she continued; "and you may think, perchance, most gallant knight, and warrior upon women, that this, in so weak a hand as mine, is no very frightful weapon. But, let me tell you, that it was tempered in distant lands--ay, and anointed too; and you had better far give your heart to the bite of the most poisonous snake that crawls the valley of Egypt, than receive the lightest scratch from this. The hilt is always at hand--so, beware!"
"Oh, we have antidotes," replied the knight; "antidotes for everything but love, sweet maid--and I swear, by your own bright eyes, that you shall be mine--so 'tis vain to resist. You shall have three days of tenderness; and then I may take a different tone."
As he spoke, some one knocked for the second time--the first had been unheeded. The knight turned to the door, and opened it, demanding impatiently, "What is it?"
"The Lord Combe and Sir Harry Alsover are in the court, desiring to speak with you," replied the servant who appeared.
"Well, take them up to the other chamber," answered the knight; and, without saying more to his fair captive, he quitted the room, and once more locked the door.
The moment he was in the corridor, however, he stopped, saying, in a meditative tone, "Stay, Easton." He hesitated for an instant, asking himself whether it were worth his while to pursue this course any farther, for a low minstrel girl, against such unexpected resistance.
The hand of Heaven almost always, in its great mercy, casts obstacles in the way of the gratification of our baser passions, which give us time for thought and for repentance; so that, in almost every case, if we commit sin or crime, it is with the perverse determination of conquering both impediments and conviction. Conscience is seldom, if ever, left unaided by circumstances. But the wicked find, in those very circumstances which oppose their course, motives for pursuing it more fiercely.