in the exercise not only of free will, but despotic authority, Rowena was disposed both to resist and to resent any attempt to control her affections, or dispose of her hand contrary to her inclinations. The opinions which she felt strongly, she avowed boldly; and Cedric, who could not free himself from his habitual deference to her opinions, felt totally at a loss how to enforce his authority of guardian.

It was in vain that he attempted to dazzle her with the prospect of a visionary throne. Rowena, who possessed strong sense,. neither considered his plan as practicable nor as desirable, so fai' as she was concerned, could it have been achieved. Without attempting to conceal her avowed preference of Wilfred of Ivanhoe, she declared that, were that favored knight out of the question, she would rather take refuge in a convent than share a throne with Athelstane.

Nevertheless Cedric persisted in using every means in his power to bring about the proposed union of Athelstane and Rowena, together with expediting those other measures which seemed necessary to forward the restoration of Saxon independ

ence.

On this last subject he was now laboring with Athelstane. The warm and impassioned exhortations of Cedric had little effect upon his impassive temper; and leaving this task, which might be compared to spurring a tired jade, 1 or to hammering upon cold iron, Cedric fell back to his ward Rowena. As his presence interrupted the discourse between the lady and her favorite attendant upon the gallantry and fate of Wilfred, Elgitha failed not to revenge both her mistress and herself by recurring to the overthrow of Athelstane in the lists, the most disagreeable subject which could greet the ears of Cedric. To this sturdy Saxon, therefore, the day's journey was fraught with all manner of displeasure and discomfort.

At noon, upon the motion of Athelstane, the travelers paused in a woodland shade by a fountain, to repose their horses, and

1 A worthless horse.

partake of some provisions with which the hospitable abbot had loaded a sumpter-mule. Their repast was a pretty long one, and these several interruptions rendered it impossible for them to hope to reach Rotherwood without traveling all night,— a conviction which induced them to proceed on their way at a more hasty pace than they had hitherto used.

THE

CHAPTER XIX.

HE travelers had now reached the verge of the wooded country, and were about to plunge into its recesses, held dangerous at that time from the number of outlaws whom oppression and poverty had driven to despair, and who occupied the forests in such large bands as could easily bid defiance to the feeble police of the period. From these rovers, however, notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, Cedric and Athelstane accounted themselves secure, as they had in attendance ten servants, besides Wamba and Gurth, whose aid could not be counted upon, the one being a jester, and the other a captive. It may be added, that, in traveling thus late through the forest, Cedric and Athelstane relied on their descent and character, as well as their courage. The outlaws, whom the severity of the forest laws had reduced to this roving and desperate mode of life, were chiefly peasants and yeomen of Saxon descent, and were generally supposed to respect the persons and property of their country

men.

As the travelers journeyed on their way, they were alarmed by repeated cries for assistance; and, when they rode up to the place from whence they came, they were surprised to find a horselitter1 placed upon the ground, beside which sat a young woman richly dressed in the Jewish fashion, while an old man, whose yellow cap proclaimed him to belong to the same nation, waiked

1 A conveyance on poles, carried by horses and borne between them.

up and down with gestures of the deepest despair, and wrung his hands, as if affected by some strange disaster.

To the inquiries of Athelstane and Cedric, the old Jew could for some time only answer by invoking the protection of all the patriarchs of the Old Testament successively against the sons of Ishmael, who were coming to smite them, hip and thigh, with the edge of the sword. When he began to come to himself out of this agony of terror, Isaac of York (for it was our old friend) was at length able to explain that he had hired a body-guard of six men at Ashby, together with mules for carrying the litter of a sick friend. This party had undertaken to escort him as far as Doncaster. They had come thus far in safety; but, having received information from a woodcutter that there was a strong band of outlaws lying in wait in the woods before them, Isaac's mercenaries had not only taken flight, but had carried off with them the horses which bore the litter, and left the Jew and his daughter without the means either of defense or of retreat, to be plundered, and probably murdered, by the banditti, whom they expected every moment would bring down upon them. "Would it but please your valors," added Isaac in a tone of deep humiliation, "to permit the poor Jews to travel under your safeguard, I swear by the tables of our law,1 that never has favor been conferred upon a child of Israel since the days of our captivity which shall be more gratefully acknowledged."

"Dog of a Jew!" said Athelstane, whose memory was of that petty kind which stores up trifles of all kinds, but particularly trifling offenses, "dost not remember how thou didst beard us in the gallery at the tilt-yard ?2 Fight or flee, or compound with the outlaws as thou dost list; 4 ask neither aid nor company from us; and if they rob only such as thee, who rob all the world, I, for mine own share, shall hold them right honest folk."

Cedric did not assent to the severe proposal of his companion. "We shall do better," said he, "to leave them two of our attend2 Place for holding a tournament. 4 Please.

1 The law of Moses. Bargain.

ants and two horses to convey them back to the next village. It will diminish our strength but little; and with your good sword, noble Athelstane, and the aid of those who remain, it will be light work for us to face twenty of those runagates."

Rowena, somewhat alarmed by the mention of outlaws in force, and so near them, strongly seconded the proposal of her guardian; but Rebecca, suddenly quitting her dejected posture, and making her way through the attendants to the palfrey of the Saxon lady, knelt down, and, after the Oriental fashion in addressing superiors, kissed the hem of Rowena's garment. Then, rising and throwing back her veil, she implored her in the great name of the God whom they both worshiped, and by that revelation of the law upon Mount Sinai1 in which they both believed, that she would have compassion upon them, and suffer them to go forward under their safeguard. "It is not for myself that I pray this favor," said Rebecca, "nor is it even for that poor old man. I know that to wrong and to spoil our nation is a light fault, if not a merit, with the Christians; and what is it to us whether it be done in the city, in the desert, or in the field? But it is in the name of one dear to many, and dear even to you, that I beseech you to let this sick person be transported with care and tenderness under your protection; for, if evil chance him, the last moment of your life would be imbittered with regret for denying that which I ask of you."

The noble and solemn air with which Rebecca made this appeal gave it double weight with the fair Saxon.

"The man is old and feeble,” she said to her guardian; "the maiden young and beautiful; their friend sick, and in peril of his life. Jews though they be, we cannot as Christians leave them in this extremity. Let them unload two of the sumpter-mules,

1 A mountain, celebrated in Scripture, in Arabia Petræa, identified with the Jabel Moosa (" Mount of Moses "), and one of a group of mountains of which Mount Horeb forms a portion of the north end. In the Old Testament Mounts Sinai and Horeb are used interchangeably for the Mountain of the Law.

and put the baggage behind two of the serfs. The mules may transport the litter, and we have led horses for the old man and

his daughter."

Cedric readily assented to what she proposed, and Athelstane only added the condition that they should travel in the rear of the whole party, "where Wamba," he said, "might attend them with his shield of boar's brawn."

"I have left my shield in the tilt-yard," answered the Jester, "as has been the fate of many a better knight than myself.”

Athelstane colored deeply, for such had been his own fate on the last day of the tournament; while Rowena, who was pleased in the same proportion, as if to make amends for the brutal jest of her unfeeling suitor, requested Rebecca to ride by her side.

"" 'It were not fit I should do so," answered Rebecca with proud humility, "where my society might be held a disgrace to my protectress."

By this time the change of baggage was hastily achieved; for the single word "outlaws" rendered every one sufficiently alert, and the approach of twilight made the sound yet more impressive. Amid the bustle, Gurth was taken from horseback, in the course of which removal he prevailed upon the Jester to slack the cord with which his arms were bound. It was so negligently refastened, perhaps intentionally, on the part of Wamba, that Gurth found no difficulty in freeing his arms altogether from bondage; and then, gliding into the thicket, he made his escape from the party.

The bustle had been considerable, and it was some time before Gurth was missed: for, as he was to be placed for the rest of the journey behind a servant, every one supposed that some other of his companions had him under his custody; and, when it began to be whispered among them that Gurth had actually disappeared, they were under such immediate expectation of an attack from the outlaws, that it was not held convenient to pay much attention to the circumstance.

The path which the party traveled was now so narrow as not