private enmity to interfere with public duty, yet did his mind, in spite of his best efforts, constantly revert to the story Inez had related, of his having attempted to draw her affections from him; and the strong conviction which he had of this, acted upon him-when connected with the circumstances just mentioned -as almost a proof positive of guilt in the present instance. In this, Philip cannot be said to have argued unreasonably. A sudden gust of passion may strike a man and hurry him on to the commission of the deepest and most fearful crime; and yet he may, in the general habits of his life, be most estimable; even more than this; it is possible, that he may be a far better and more useful member of society, than another who is not susceptible of that passion which hurried him on blindfold to the crime. But this mode of reasoning could not be applied to Robert's case. The King argued, that, in attempting to work on Inez's mind, he had not been acted upon by any impulse of passion so sudden as to have been irre sistible, but that, on the contrary, he must necessarily have used thought and contrivance; he must have reflected long and often upon the best mode of compassing his purpose; he must have availed himself of the advantages which his-the King's-friendship alone procured him of being near her person. When he reflected upon this, his anger was nearly lost in disdain, and he argued that the dif ference between such an action and that of forgery was not so great, but that a person who could be guilty of the one, would not be over scrupulous of committing the other; they both required the same thought, reflection and contrivance,—the like art, concealment and deceit. As the suspicions with which Inez had filled the King's mind were unfounded, he argued on this subject on false premises; but he argued well. And let all those who have the education of young persons, not satisfy themselves with merely striving to curb the passions of their children or pupils, but, above all things, take special care to impress them with an early abhorrence of all and every thing which bears the semblance even, of meanness; for I do verily believe that no one is quite lost, either in this world, or in the next, until he is first lost to himself: that is, until he is dead to all feeling of shame, and has learned to be unblushingly guilty of a low action. CHAPTER XXVI. DURING the silence succeeding the last observation, Robert arose and addressed the King in a low, but grave and firm voice. "The indentures which I some few days agone submitted to your Grace, and the authenticity of which hath just been doubted by the members of the council, were, as I have before asserted, put into my possession by one of the brethren of St. Bertin. Of this, my Liege, I now pledge my troth, as a true and loyal Knight, and my salvation as a soldier of the Holy Cross. "That there should be some differencetrifling indeed it is, and such only as the eye of a malignant foe would seek, or could dis cern-between the signatures which I produce and those brought forward from the archives, I cannot, on a closer view than I at first did give to them, deny. Yet, my Liege! neither should your Grace deny, that, being so trifling, it might well have scaped the note of one who, like myself, was gladdened at the thought of gaining that which it hath been my heart's deep sigh through life to hold,-a land estated on my House by Philip, named Augustus, your Grace's ancestor and mine,-an habitation, in which my forefathers first drew that breath, which hath so often poured forth words of wisdom in the council of their Sovereigns-wherein the pastimes of their boyhood nursed their limbs, and gave a strength which hath been fatal to their country's foes-wherein their bones lie mouldering, and where my heart still lives, and will for ever be. "The Lord of Flanders is-I have been often warned of it, my Liege, and have as often smiled upon the warnermy bitterest and - most mortal foe. Wherefore? I know not. Such, were I asked, would be my answer. |