"
"Should I not prevent my kinswoman from drinking poison, by
sullying the vessel which contained it, if I saw no other means
of disgusting her with the fatal liquor?" replied the King.
"It is thyself," answered Edith, "that would press me to drink
poison, because it is proffered in a golden chalice."
"Edith," said Richard, "I cannot force thy resolution; but beware
you shut not the door which Heaven opens. The hermit of Engaddi
--he whom Popes and Councils have regarded as a prophet--hath
read in the stars that thy marriage shall reconcile me with a
powerful enemy, and that thy husband shall be Christian, leaving
thus the fairest ground to hope that the conversion of the
Soldan, and the bringing in of the sons of Ishmael to the pale of
the church, will be the consequence of thy wedding with Saladin.
Come, thou must make some sacrifice rather than mar such happy
prospects."
"Men may sacrifice rams and goats," said Edith, "but not honour
and conscience. I have heard that it was the dishonour of a
Christian maiden which brought the Saracens into Spain; the shame
of another is no likely mode of expelling them from Palestine.
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