"
With these words he withdrew from the assembly; and it is
recorded that from that period his frenzy fits seldom occurred,
and his penances were of a milder character, and accompanied with
better hopes of the future. So much is there of self-opinion,
even in insanity, that the conviction of his having entertained
and expressed an unfounded prediction with so much vehemence
seemed to operate like loss of blood on the human frame, to
modify and lower the fever of the brain.
It is needless to follow into further particulars the conferences
at the royal tent, or to inquire whether David, Earl of
Huntingdon, was as mute in the presence of Edith Plantagenet as
when he was bound to act under the character of an obscure and
nameless adventurer. It may be well believed that he there
expressed with suitable earnestness the passion to which he had
so often before found it difficult to give words.
The hour of noon now approached, and Saladin waited to receive
the Princes of Christendom in a tent, which, but for its large
size, differed little from that of the ordinary shelter of the
common Kurdman, or Arab; yet beneath its ample and sable covering
was prepared a banquet after the most gorgeous fashion of the
East, extended upon carpets of the richest stuffs, with cushions
laid for the guests.
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