m nature, and can
rule in her own house; but thou--where out of romaunt can I find a lord
loving enough for thee, soft child?"

Inexpressibly affected, Anne threw herself on her father's breast and
wept. He caressed and soothed her fondly; and before her emotion was
well over, Gloucester and Isabel joined them.

"My fair cousin," said the duke, "hath promised to show me thy
renowned steed, Saladin; and since, on quitting thy halls, I go to my
apprenticeship in war on the turbulent Scottish frontier, I would
fain ask thee for a destrier of the same race as that which bears the
thunderbolt of Warwick's wrath through the storm of battle."

"A steed of the race of Saladin," answered the earl, leading the way to
the destrier's stall, apart from all other horses, and rather a chamber
of the castle than a stable, "were indeed a boon worthy a soldier's gift
and a prince's asking. But, alas! Saladin, like myself, is sonless,--the
last of a long line."

"His father, methinks, fell for us on the field of Towton. Was it not
so? I have heard Edward say that when the archers gave way, and the
victory more than wavered, thou, dismounting, didst slay thy steed with
thine own hand, and kissing the cross of thy sword, swore on that spot
to stem the rush of the foe, and win Edward's crown or Warwick's grave."
["Every Palm Sunday, the day on which the battle of Towton was fought,
a rough figure, called the Red Horse, on the side of a hill in
Warwickshire, is scoured out. This is suggested to be done in
commemoration of the horse which the Earl of Warwick slew on that day,
determined to vanquish or die."--Roberts: York and Lancaster, vol. i. p.
429.]

"It was so; and the shout of my merry men, when they saw me amongst
their ranks on foot--all flight forbid--was Malech's death-dirge. It
is a wondrous race,--that of Malech and his son Saladin," continued the
earl, smiling. "When my ancestor, Aymer de Nevile, led his troops to
the Holy Land, under Coeur de Lion, it was his fate to capture a lady
beloved by the mighty Saladin. Need I say that Aymer, under a flag of
truce, escorted her ransomless, her veil never raised from her face, to
the tent of the Saracen king? Saladin, too gracious for an infidel, made
him tarry a while, an honoured guest; and Aymer's chivalry became sorely
tried, for the lady he had delivered loved and tempted him; but the good
knight prayed and fasted, and defied Satan and all his works. The lady
(so runs the legen