 to do so, the Templar whispered to the
Prior, »I shall wear no collar of gold of yours at the tournament. The Chian
wine is your own.«
    »Said I not so?« answered the Prior; »but check your raptures, the Franklin
observes you.«
    Unheeding this remonstrance, and accustomed only to act upon the immediate
impulse of his own wishes, Brian de Bois-Guilbert kept his eyes rivetted on the
Saxon beauty, more striking perhaps to his imagination, because differing widely
from those of the Eastern sultanas.
    Formed in the best proportions of her sex, Rowena was tall in stature, yet
not so much so as to attract observation on account of superior height. Her
complexion was exquisitely fair, but the noble cast of her head and features
prevented the insipidity which sometimes attaches to fair beauties. Her clear
blue eye, which sate enshrined beneath a graceful eyebrow of brown sufficiently
marked to give expression to the forehead, seemed capable to kindle as well as
melt, to command as well as to beseech. If mildness were the more natural
expression of such a combination of features, it was plain, that in the present
instance, the exercise of habitual superiority, and the reception of general
homage, had given to the Saxon lady a loftier character, which mingled with and
qualified that bestowed by nature. Her profuse hair, of a colour betwixt brown
and flaxen, was arranged in a fanciful and graceful manner in numerous ringlets,
to form which art had probably aided nature. These locks were braided with gems,
and, being worn at full length, intimated the noble and free-born condition of
the maiden. A golden chain, to which was attached a small reliquary of the same
metal, hung round her neck. She wore bracelets on her arms, which were bare. Her
dress was an under-gown and kirtle of pale sea-green silk, over which hung a
long loose robe, which reached to the ground, having very wide sleeves, which
came down, however, very little below the elbow. This robe was crimson, and
manufactured out of the very finest wool. A veil of silk, interwoven with gold,
was attached to the upper part of it, which could be, at the wearer's pleasure,
either drawn over the face and bosom after the Spanish fashion, or disposed as a
sort of drapery round the shoulders.
    When Rowena perceived the Knight Templar's eyes bent on her with an ardour,
that, compared with the dark caverns under which they moved, gave them the
effect of lighted charcoal, she drew
