e shall hang on
the top of this castle of Coningsburgh, in his cope and stole. I will be
king in my own domains, and nowhere else. Cedric, I rise from the tomb a
wiser man than I descended."

"My ward, Rowena," said Cedric--"you do not intend to desert her?"

"Father Cedric," said Athelstane, "be reasonable. The Lady Rowena cares
not for me--she loves the little finger of my kinsman Wilfred's glove
better than my whole person. There she stands to avouch it--nay, blush
not, kinswoman, there is no shame in loving a courtly knight better than
a country thane,--and do not laugh neither, Rowena, for grave-clothes
and a thin visage are, God knows, no matter of merriment. Nay, as thou
wilt needs laugh, I will find thee a better jest--Give me thy hand, or,
rather, lend it me, for I but ask it in the way of friendship. Here,
cousin Wilfred of Ivanhoe, in thy favour I renounce and abjure--Hey! our
cousin Wilfred hath vanished!"

Ivanhoe had disappeared, and King Richard had gone also.

Ivanhoe hastened away at a secret message to fight once more with Brian
de Bois-Guilbert, who had abducted a Jewish maiden named Rebecca, and
spurned by Rebecca, Bois-Guilbert only escaped condemnation by the Grand
Master of the Templars for his offence by admitting Rebecca to be a
sorceress, and by challenging to mortal combat all who should dare to
champion the high-souled and hapless Hebrew maid.

Bois-Guilbert fell in the lists as Ivanhoe approached, and, unscathed by
the lance of his enemy, died a victim to the violence of his own
contending passions.

Ivanhoe and King Richard (who had followed Wilfred) hastened back to
Coningsburgh, and Cedric, finding his project for the union of Rowena
and Athelstane at an end by the mutual dissent of both parties, soon
gave his consent to the marriage of his ward Rowena and his son Wilfred
of Ivanhoe.

The nuptials thus formally approved were celebrated in the noble Minster
of York. The King himself attended, and the presence of high-born
Normans, as well as Saxons, joined with the universal rejoicing of the
lower orders, marked the marriage as a pledge of the future peace and
harmony betwixt the two races.

* * * * *

Kenilworth

Scott's success in portraying the character of Mary Stuart in
"The Abbot" fired him with the desire of doing likewise with
her great rival Elizabeth; and although history has modified
his picture of the Engli