"
"Yet he hath served and suffered much for you," said the King.
"I have paid his services with honour and applause, and his
sufferings with tears," answered Edith. "Had he desired other
reward, he would have done wisely to have bestowed his affections
within his own degree."
"You would not, then, wear the bloody night-gear for his sake?"
said King Richard.
"No more," answered Edith, "than I would have required him to
expose his life by an action in which there was more madness than
honour."
"Maidens talk ever thus," said the King; "but when the favoured
lover presses his suit, she says, with a sigh, her stars had
decreed otherwise."
"Your Grace has now, for the second time, threatened me with the
influence of my horoscope," Edith replied, with dignity. "Trust
me, my liege, whatever be the power of the stars, your poor
kinswoman will never wed either infidel or obscure adventurer.
Permit me that I listen to the music of Blondel, for the tone of
your royal admonitions is scarce so grateful to the ear.
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