feared, solicited the kiss of woman; by which, saith the last rule of
our renowned Order, 'Ut fugiantur oscula', the soldiers of the Cross are
brought into a snare. For which heinous and multiplied guilt, Brian de
Bois-Guilbert should be cut off and cast out from our congregation, were
he the right hand and right eye thereof."

He paused. A low murmur went through the assembly. Some of the younger
part, who had been inclined to smile at the statute 'De osculis
fugiendis', became now grave enough, and anxiously waited what the Grand
Master was next to propose.

"Such," he said, "and so great should indeed be the punishment of a
Knight Templar, who wilfully offended against the rules of his Order in
such weighty points. But if, by means of charms and of spells, Satan had
obtained dominion over the Knight, perchance because he cast his eyes
too lightly upon a damsel's beauty, we are then rather to lament than
chastise his backsliding; and, imposing on him only such penance as
may purify him from his iniquity, we are to turn the full edge of
our indignation upon the accursed instrument, which had so well-nigh
occasioned his utter falling away.--Stand forth, therefore, and bear
witness, ye who have witnessed these unhappy doings, that we may judge
of the sum and bearing thereof; and judge whether our justice may be
satisfied with the punishment of this infidel woman, or if we must
go on, with a bleeding heart, to the further proceeding against our
brother."

Several witnesses were called upon to prove the risks to which
Bois-Guilbert exposed himself in endeavouring to save Rebecca from the
blazing castle, and his neglect of his personal defence in attending to
her safety. The men gave these details with the exaggerations common to
vulgar minds which have been strongly excited by any remarkable event,
and their natural disposition to the marvellous was greatly increased
by the satisfaction which their evidence seemed to afford to the eminent
person for whose information it had been delivered. Thus the dangers
which Bois-Guilbert surmounted, in themselves sufficiently great, became
portentous in their narrative. The devotion of the Knight to Rebecca's
defence was exaggerated beyond the bounds, not only of discretion, but
even of the most frantic excess of chivalrous zeal; and his deference
to what she said, even although her language was often severe and
upbraiding, was painted as carried to an excess, which, in a man of hi