Richard pointed over the hill toward Antioch; then drew back his mantle. Upon the ring-shirt was the red cross of the Crusade.
"We are soldiers of Christ, and must warn our brethren."
"Mashallah! You shall attempt nothing," cried the Spaniard. "You rebuked me; yet you rush into the arms of death! Your wife!"
And Godfrey added eagerly:—
"Yes, by St. Denis,—my duty calls to Antioch, but not yours. One can pass as safely as two. Think of your wife, De St. Julien. If Musa prospers at all, he can pass you for a body-servant or the like. I alone will go to Antioch."
Richard was very pale, and Mary likewise; but before he could answer, she thrust herself between the Norman and his friends.
"You say well, my lord and husband," said she, simply; "you belong first to Christ and then to me."
"O sweet lady," broke out Musa, "pray him for your sake, if not for his own, to go with us; to forget his madness."
Mary looked from one to the other. Her hands clasped and unclasped nervously, but her voice was calm and sweet.
"No, brave Musa, I cannot say to Richard 'turn back,'—though my Lord Godfrey says it. Cursed would be my love for him, and his for me, if thus he was turned from his vow to Our Lord, and from duty to his comrades. I did not love him, to make him slave to my fears and desires. Rather I saw him as something higher far than I; like a mountain whose shadows would cover me; but whose height I would not lessen. For my heart—as your heart and Duke Godfrey's heart—tells me his duty is in the city, not with me. And whether he dies—which Christ forbid!—or lives to see the victory, I shall know my love has been sweeter than all the pain."