Heroines of the Crusades

ve for? tell lif

nk, to sleep,

to love

ngs we know no

ngs not worth t

. Fan

e a weary thing, to fast and pray as doth my sister Cicely, and look forever on those d

iving form glowing with youth and beauty," said Maude; "but when death shuts out the l

ffectionately kissing her cheek. "Cicely worships the memory of him

ho loved that father," sai

r and dominion, terminate in discontent, despair, and death. No duke of Normandy, since the days of Rou, hath been so successful as William the Conqueror, yet the meanest serf is happier than he: and this love that makes my he

ng man to effort, else lying dormant would his faculties perish with the rust of inactivity. Our pious bishop, Aldred, used to say; that any purp

oor wit," said Adela. "Tell me o

e, with a sigh, "but should he plight his love to an

her cheeks glowing, and her da

ivided current of their lives, flowing on in a stream of bliss, Ambition and Hope were quenched in my

t not formed for this sinful world; thou shouldst dwe

ngs of my heart when I heard I might not enter the convent with Cice

urge thy tender flesh with knotted cords, than live almost a prin

stine, and dwell an eremite in the lonely caves of E

e of Jerusalem calls up visions bright as the bowers of Eden. Never have I wondered that pilgrims flocked to the Holy Land when they deemed the thousand years of prophecy accomplished

verily believed they found in prophecy the confirmation of their hopes. My grands

troop of horse, winding along the brow of the hill? Eye and heart alike deceive me if that be not Count Stephen's plume. Metho

ey are not all mounted. Those men on foot, in the garb of fri

the maidens with one voice. "

ount Stephen has returned," said he, "and

leading away the young prince. "Thou sh

ianced as she entered, "thou art surprised, but I

d it," said Adela, "but seeing thee well,

impassable by the swollen waters. A band of pilgrims were encamped upon the other side, and at the sight of the Norman pennon, they sent forth a piteous cry for aid. We swam our steeds across the turgi

fus has returned. His pupil then sha

cs he has brought from Palestine. I craved from his gratitude a portion of the holy dust, for thy oratory. Should da

f surprise and recognition she regarded the beautiful crystal urn, with its a

n illness seized thee?" said her lover,

y grasping the urn, and pressing her pale lips upon the insc

w, and supporting her trembling steps to the antec

rs, Count Stephen basked in the sunshine of her smiles, and protracted his stay during the festivities consequent upon the affiancing of Constance with Alan, Count of Bretagne. The young bride was dowered with the lands of Chester, once the possession of the unfortunate Earl Edwin. And William, at the same time, accorded