y under the influence of that
excitement which necessarily ends in exhaustion; and that, in addition
to this, he had recently walked some distance; it will not, therefore,
be looked upon as an incident improbable or astonishing, that Lord
Montacute, after pursuing for some time that train of meditation which
was his custom, should have fallen asleep.

His hat had dropped from his head; his rich curls fell on his
outstretched arm that served as a pillow for a countenance which in the
sweet dignity of its blended beauty and stillness might have become an
archangel; and, lying on one of the mats, in an attitude of unconscious
gracefulness, which a painter might have transferred to his portfolio,
Tancred sank into a deep and dreamless repose.

[Illustration: frontis2-p26]

He woke refreshed and renovated, but quite insensible of all that had
recently occurred. He stretched his limbs; something seemed to embarrass
him; he found himself covered with a rich robe. He was about to rise,
resting on his arm, when turning his head he beheld the form of a woman.

She was young, even for the East; her stature rather above the ordinary
height, and clothed in the rich dress usual among the Syrian ladies.
She wore an amber vest of gold-embroidered silk, fitting closely to her
shape, and fastening with buttons of precious stones from the bosom to
the waist, there opening like a tunic, so that her limbs were free to
range in her huge Mamlouk trousers, made of that white Cashmere a shawl
of which can be drawn through a ring. These, fastened round her ankles
with clasps of rubies, fell again over her small slippered feet. Over
her amber vest she had an embroidered pelisse of violet silk, with long
hanging sleeves, which showed occasionally an arm rarer than the costly
jewels which embraced it; a many-coloured Turkish scarf inclosed her
waist; and then, worn loosely over all, was an outer pelisse of amber
Cashmere, lined with the fur of the white fox. At the back of her
head was a cap, quite unlike the Greek and Turkish caps which we are
accustomed to see in England, but somewhat resembling the head-dress of
a Mandarin; round, not flexible, almost flat; and so thickly in-crusted
with pearls, that it was impossible to detect the colour of the velvet
which covered it. Beneath it descended two broad braids of dark brown
hair, which would have swept the ground had they not been turned
half-way up, and there fastened with bunches of precious s