Pay thyself with it,
And if there’s something left ’twill be in store.
Are Nathan and the templar not yet come?
SITTAH.
He has been seeking for him everywhere—
Look what I met with when the plate and jewels
Were passing through my hands—
[Showing a small portrait.
SALADIN.
Ha! What, my brother?
’Tis he, ’tis he, was he, was he alas!
Thou dear brave youth, and lost to me so early;
What would I not with thee and at thy side
Have undertaken? Let me have the portrait,
I recollect it now again; he gave it
Unto thy elder sister, to his Lilah,
That morning that she would not part with him,
But clasped him so in tears. It was the last
Morning that he rode out; and I—I let him
Ride unattended. Lilah died for grief,
And never could forgive me that I let him
Then ride alone. He came not back.
SITTAH.
Poor brother—
SALADIN.
Time shall be when none of us will come back,
And then who knows? It is not death alone
That balks the hopes of young men of his cast,
Such have far other foes, and oftentimes
The strongest like the weakest is o’ercome.
Be as it may—I must compare this picture
With our young templar, to observe how much
My fancy cheated me.