The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-03-01

| born, so were they nobly entreated nothing
low or mean was suffered to come before them
Even in their services, nothing mental was re-
quired of them. To arm their lord for battle
to follow him to the tournament or to the field
where to rush in to his rescue if beaten down
to tend his hurts If wounded, to bear his mes
sages, and guard his secrets as his own life
| to wait on the ladies-these were the duties Of
n page in the twelfth century. Courage, truth
honor. fidelity unto death, courtesy, humility to
the humble, haughtiness to the haughty-these
were the lessons taught him. 1t may be
doubted whether our teachings in the nine
| teenth are so far superior b whether they
bear SO far better fruits in thel al
| Be this, however, as it may, Aradas de Rat
cliffe, having grown up in tho same household
I with the beautiful Guendoien, though some
twelve years her senior, had grown up to love
her and his promise of manhood being in nc
wise inferior to her beauty, his birth equal to
her own. and his dead father an old and trusted
friend of Sir Yvo, he was now riding by her side
| not only as her surest defender, but as her aft
anced husband it being settled, that 30 soon
as the youthful esquire should have won his
knightly spurs, the lands of Hawkshead, Conis
ton and Yewdale, should be united with the
adjoining demesnes of Rydal manor, dim with
| its grand old woods, by the union of the heir
ess of de Taillebois to the heir of the proud
Ratcliffes.
And now they had ridden forth onthis bright
and fair autumnal morning, partly to fly their
hawks at the herons, for which the grassy meads
in the vale of Kentmere were famous, partly
to visit the new home of Guendolen's favorite
Edith, and more, in truth, than all, to enjoy
the pleasure of loverly tete-d-tete; for the
girl who followed her lady kept discreetly out
of earshot, and amused herself flirting with
the single page who accompanied them and
the rest of the train, consisting of grooms, fall
coners, and varlets, bearing the hawks and
leading the sumpter mules, Jagged considera-
bly, in the rear.
There was not, however, very much of gay
ETY. in the manner of either of the young peo-
pie; the fair face of Guendolen was some
thing paler than its use, and her glad eyes had
beseeching look, even while she smiled, and
her voice was playful; and there was sorrow
full shadow on the brow Of Aradas, and he
spoke in grave, low tone, though IT was full
of gentleness and trust.
In truth like Jacob of old, when he served
for the daughters of Laban, the young esquire
was waxing weary of the long servitude and
the hope deferred. The temporary lull of war,
which at that time prevailed over both England
and the French Provinces belonging to the
Crown, gave him no hope of speedily winning
the desired spurs; and the bloody wars, which
were in progress on the shores of the sister
| island, though fierce and sanguinary enough
to satisfy the most eager for the perils and hon
ors of the battlefield, were not so evidently ia
vored by the monarch, or so clear from the
| faint of piracy, as to justify cavalier, of un
tainted character and unbroken fortunes, in
Joining the invaders. But in this very year had
| the eyes of all the Christian world been strong
| ly turned toward Palestine, where Baldwin Nv,
| a minor, and a leper, and no match for the tai
ents and power of the victorious Saladin, sat
fecbly on the throne of the strong crusading
Kings of Jerusalem, which was now tottering
to its fall, under the fierce assaults of the Mos
lemin.
Henry III and Louis of France had sworn to
| maintain between them the peace of God, and
| to Join in a third crusade for the defence Of
the Sepulchre and the Holy City. In this war
Aradas saw the certainty of winning knight
| hood but Guendolen, who would have armed
her champion joyously, and buckled on his
sword with her own hand, for any European
conflict, shuddered at the tales of the poisoned
sarbacenes and arrows with which report
armed the gigantic Saracens; shuddered al
the knives of the Assassins of the Mountains
at the pestilences which were known to brood
over those arid shores and yet more, at the
strange monsters, dragons, and winged ser
points nay fends, and incarnate demons-with
which superstitious horror peopled the soil
tudes which had witnessed the awful scenes Of
the temptation, the passion, and the death, Of
the Son of God.
In short, she interposed her absolute nay
with the quiet but positive determination of O
woman, and clinched it with woman's argu
ment.
You do not love me, Aradas," she said
/" ] know you do not love me, or you would
never think of speaking of that fearful country,
or of taking the Cross-that country, from
which no one ever returns alive-or, if he do re-
turn. returns so bent and bowed with plague and
fever, or so hacked and mangled by the poi
soned weapons of the savages, that he is an
old man ere his prime, and dead before No
no | will not hear of it No, / will not.
will not love you, if you so much as breathe it
to me again, Aradas!"
"That were penalty" said the young man
half sadly smiling 7" but can you help it, Guen
dolcn 2"
Don't trust in that, sir" she said. Gone
can do anything -everything- trying
"Can one, Pardie i would you would show
me, then, how to win these spurs of gold, by
trying"
az can. Be firm, be faithful, and, above all
patience, there is no evidence of faith; without
faith, there is, there can be, neither true chiv
airy nor true love. Besides, we are very young
we are very happy as we are; occasion will
come up, perhaps is at hand even now; and
and-wel, if l am worth having, / am worth
waiting for, Beausire Aradas; and if you dont
think so, byr lady, you'd better bestow yourself
where -
| "Whoopl whoopl SO no! He mounts he
mounts "a loud shout from the rear of the
party interrupted her. In the earnestness o.
| their conversation, they had cleared the con
| fines of the winding lane, and entered, without
observing it, a beautiful stretch of meadow land
intersected By small rivuets and water.courses
sloping down to the lake shore. Some of the
grooms and varlets had spread ont over the
Hat grassland, beating the reeds with their
hawking poles, and cheering their merry span
iels. The shout was ELECTED by the sudden up
rising of the great, long-necked hermit fisher
| from broad reed belt by the stream side, flap
ping his broad gray vans heavily on the light
air, and stretching his long yellow legs far be
hind him, as he scared skyward, with his harsh
changing cry. ri
| All eyes were instantly turned to the direc
ton of the shout, and every heart bounded al
the sight of the quarry.
"Whoopi Diamond whoop!" cried the
young girl, as she cast off her gallant falcon
and then, seeing her lover throw off his long
winged peregrine to join in the flight, A wa
ger, Aradas. My glove on diamond" agains
aHelvelIyn." What will you wager, Beau
sire Pr
"My hearth"
"Nayl have that already. Else you swort
falsely Against your turquoise ring. I'll kno
my kerchief with it."
| IA wager! Now ride, Guendolen; ride, i
you would see the wager won."
And they gave the head to their horses, ant