“I ask you,” said Richard, raising himself on his elbow, “as a knight and a gentleman—and I shall know by your answer how you value either character—did you, or did you not, know any lady amongst that band of worshippers?”
“My lord,” said Kenneth, not without much hesitation, “I might guess.”
“And I also may guess,” said the King, frowning sternly; “but it is enough. Leopard as you are, Sir Knight, beware tempting the lion's paw. Hark ye—to become enamoured of the moon would be but an act of folly; but to leap from the battlements of a lofty tower, in the wild hope of coming within her sphere, were self-destructive madness.”
At this moment some bustling was heard in the outer apartment, and the King, hastily changing to his more natural manner, said, “Enough—begone—speed to De Vaux, and send him hither with the Arabian physician. My life for the faith of the Soldan! Would he but abjure his false law, I would aid him with my sword to drive this scum of French and Austrians from his dominions, and think Palestine as well ruled by him as when her kings were anointed by the decree of Heaven itself.”
The Knight of the Leopard retired, and presently afterwards the chamberlain announced a deputation from the Council, who had come to wait on the Majesty of England.
“It is well they allow that I am living yet,” was his reply. “Who are the reverend ambassadors?”
“The Grand Master of the Templars and the Marquis of Montserrat.”
“Our brother of France loves not sick-beds,” said Richard; “yet, had Philip been ill, I had stood by his couch long since.—Jocelyn, lay me the couch more fairly—it is tumbled like a stormy sea. Reach me yonder steel mirror—pass a comb through my hair and beard. They look, indeed, liker a lion's mane than a Christian man's locks. Bring water.”
“My lord,” said the trembling chamberlain, “the leeches say that cold water may be fatal.”
“To the foul fiend with the leeches!” replied the monarch; “if they cannot cure me, think you I will allow them to torment me?—There, then,” he said, after having made his ablutions, “admit the worshipful envoys; they will now, I think, scarcely see that disease has made Richard negligent of his person.”