blind sword of fate that frees his spirit, lest it should
haunt my dreams and turn all my world to woe. Spare me, I beseech
you."

But Saladin looked at her very sternly and answered:

"Princess, you know why I have brought you to the East and raised
you to great honour here, why also I have made you my companion
in these wars. It is for my dream's sake, the dream which told me
that by some noble act of yours you should save the lives of
thousands. Yet I am sure that you desire to escape, and plots are
made to take you from me, though of these plots you say that you
and your woman"--and he looked darkly at Masouda--"know nothing.
But these men know, and it is right that you, for whose sake if
not by whose command the thing was done, should mete out its
reward, and that the blood of him whom you appoint, which is
spilt for you, should be on your and no other head. Now do my
bidding."

For a moment Rosamund stared at the boxes, then suddenly she
closed her eyes, and taking them up at hazard, stretched out her
arms, leaning forward over the edge of the dais. Thereon, calmly
enough the brethren took, each of them, the box that was nearest
to him, that in Rosamund's left hand falling to Godwin and that
in her right to Wulf. Then she opened her eyes again, stood
still, and watched.

"Cousin," said Godwin, "before we break this cord that is our
chain of doom, know well that, whatever chances, we blame you not
at all. It is God Who acts through you, and you are as innocent
of the death of either of us as of that plot whereof we stand
accused."

Then he began to unknot the silk which was bound about his box.
Wulf, knowing that it would tell all the tale, did not trouble
himself as yet, but looked around the room, thinking that,
whether he lived or died, never would he see a stranger sight.
Every eye in it was fixed upon the box in Godwin's hand; even
Saladin stared as though it held his own destiny. No; not every
one, for those of the old imaum were fixed upon the face of
Rosamund, which was piteous to see, for all its beauty had left
it, and even her parted lips were ashy. Masouda alone still
stood upright and unmoved, as though she watched some play, but
he noted that her rich-hued cheek grew pale and that beneath her
robe her hand was pressed upon her heart. The silence also was
intense, and broken only by the little grating noise of Godwin's
nails as, having no knife to cut it, he patiently untied the
silk.

"Tro