and said:

"Lady, how sorely you misjudge me. What is my crime against you?
I am an Essex man of good lineage, who met you in Essex and
learnt to love you there. Is that a crime, in one who is not
poor, who, moreover, was knighted for his deeds by no mean hand?
Your father said me nay, and you said me nay, and, stung by my
disappointment and his words--for he called me sea-thief and
raked up old tales that are not true against me--I talked as I
should not have done, swearing that I would wed you yet in spite
of all. For this I was called to account with justice, and your
cousin, the young knight Godwin, who was then a squire, struck me
in the face. Well, he worsted and wounded me, fortune favouring
him, and I departed with my vessel to the East, for that is my
business, to trade between Syria and England.

"Now, as it chanced, there being peace at the time between the
Sultan and the Christians, I visited Damascus to buy merchandise.
Whilst I was there Saladin sent for me and asked if it were true
that I belonged to a part of England called Essex. When I
answered yes, he asked if I knew Sir Andrew D'Arcy and his
daughter. Again I said yes, whereon he told me that strange tale
of your kinship to him, of which I had heard already; also a
still stranger tale of some dream that he had dreamed concerning
you, which made it necessary that you should be brought to his
court, where he was minded to raise you to great honour. In the
end, he offered to hire my finest ship for a large sum, if I
would sail it to England to fetch you; but he did not tell me
that any force was to be used, and I, on my part, said that I
would lift no hand against you or your father, nor indeed have I
done so."

"Who remembered the swords of Godwin and Wulf," broke in Rosamund
scornfully, "and preferred that braver men should face them."

"Lady," answered Lozelle, colouring, "hitherto none have accused
me of a lack of courage. Of your courtesy, listen, I pray you. I
did wrong to enter on this business; but lady, it was love for
you that drove me to it, for the thought of this long voyage in
your company was a bait I could not withstand."

"Paynim gold was the bait you could not withstand--that is what
you mean. Be brief, I pray you. I weary.

"Lady, you are harsh and misjudge me, as I will show," and he
looked about him cautiously. "Within a week from now, if all goes
well, we cast anchor at Limazol in Cyprus, to take in food and
water before