dining in the
hall of the palace with the king and his nobles, when word was brought
to the royal table that Ximena, the daughter of Count Gomez, and her
train stood at the gates, and demanded an audience of the king. Fernando
rose from his seat, and, signing to his nobles to follow him, he went to
meet Ximena.

A figure of woe was she, clothed all in black, even her face hidden by a
black veil. Throwing herself on her knees, she implored that justice
might be done on the murderer of her father, for not till then would the
stain be wiped out which had killed her mother and was killing her. 'He
rides to and fro under my lattice,' said she, 'and the hawk on his wrist
slays my doves, and my mantle is sprinkled with their blood. If you do
not do me right, O king, you are not fit to reign, or to call yourself a
knight.'

Thus spake Ximena, and the king sat silent and pondered her words. 'I
cannot punish Don Rodrigo, either by imprisonment or death,' he said to
himself, 'for my nobles would not suffer it; I must find some other way
to satisfy Ximena.' Then turning to her, he bade her go home, and added
that no damsel should have cause to complain that wrong had been done
them at his hands.

Then Ximena rode away, and by-and-by Rodrigo departed also.

* * * * *

Six months later King Fernando was seated in the great hall of his
palace of Burgos, dispensing justice to high and low, when there entered
once more Ximena, followed by thirty esquires and pages.

'I come, though I know it is in vain,' she cried, when she had made her
way to the foot of the throne. 'Five times I have appeared to demand my
rights, and no longer will I be put off with empty words. No king are
you, who are swayed this way and that by every man that passes, and dare
not even avenge your friends, for fear of what may come of it.'

'Not so,' answered the king; 'but is there no other way by which your
quarrel may be appeased? Has Rodrigo on his side suffered no insult? You
have heard of the fame he has lately won, when he took captive the five
Moorish kings who broke suddenly into the land and ravaged it with fire
and sword. And to prove that it was fame and not gold he wanted he set
them all free, with only a promise of homage from them. Ah, if there
were but a few more like him, Spain would soon be rid of the Moors.
Happy is the woman he shall choose for his wife; she will live all her
days in safety and in honour.'