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"what could urge one of thy rank and seeming worth to so foul an undertaking?"

3. "Thy father's son," answered Waldemar.

Richard's eyes sparkled with indignation, but his better nature overcame it. He pressed his hand against his brow, and remained an instant gazing on the face of the humbled baron, in whose features pride was contending with shame.

Thou dost not ask thy life, Waldemar," said, the king.

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'He that is in the lion's clutch," answered Fitzurse, knows it were needless."

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4. "Take it, then, unasked," said Richard; "the lion preys not on prostrate carcasses. Take thy life, but with this condition, that in three days thou shalt leave England, and go to hide thine infamy in thy Norman castle, and that thou wilt never mention the name of John of Anjou as connected with thy felony.-Let this knight have a steed, Locksley; for I see your yeomen have caught those which were running loose, and let him depart unharmed."

5. "But that I judge I listen to a voice whose behests must not be disputed," answered the yeoman, I would send a shaft after the skulking villain that should spare him the labour of a long journey."

"Thou bearest an English heart, Locksley," said the Black Knight; " and well dost judge thou art the more bound to obey my behest:-I am Richard of England!"

6. At these words, pronounced in a tone of

majesty suited to the high rank and no less distinguished character of Coeur-de-Lion, the yeomen at once kneeled down before him, and at the same time tendered their allegiance, and implored pardon for their offences.

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7. Rise, my friends," said Richard, in a gracious tone, looking on them with a countenance in which. his habitual good-humour had already conquered the blaze of hasty resentment, and whose features retained no mark of the late desperate conflict, excepting the flush arising from exertion," Arise," he said, "my friends! Your misdemeanours, whether in forest or field, have been atoned by the loyal services you rendered my distressed subjects before the walls of Torquilstone, and the rescue you have this day afforded to your sovereign. Arise, my liegemen, and be good subjects in future.-And thou, brave Locksley-"

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8. Call me no longer Locksley, my liege, but know me under the name which, I fear, fame hath blown too widely not to have reached even your royal ears I am Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest."

"King of outlaws, and prince of good fellows!" said the king, “who hath not heard a name that has been borne as far as Palestine ? But be assured, brave outlaw, that no deed done in our absence, and in the turbulent times to which it hath given rise, shall be remembered to thy disadvantage."

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Summary:-By the command of the Black Knight, Wamba opened the visor of the leader of those who had attacked them in the forest. The Black Knight was surprised to see the face of a knight whom he did not expect to find under such circumstances, and his indignation was great when told that his brother John was at the bottom of the whole affair. Then the Black Knight told Locksley that he was Richard of England; and Locksley confessed that he was Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest.

Exercises: 1. Write a sketch of the Life of Richard I.

"The yeomen

2. Explain-"The lion preys not on prostrate carcasses;' tendered their allegiance;" "King of outlaws, and prince of good fellows." 3. The Greek prefix ex or ec signifies out or out of-as, exodus, a going out; exorcise, to drive out evil spirits; eclipse, a leaving out. Make sentences containing exodus, exorcise, eclipse.

XXIV.- -THE KING AND IVANHOE.

1. Two additional personages now appeared on the scene. The new-comers were Wilfred of Ivanhoe, who had now partially recovered from his wound; and Gurth, who attended him. The astonishment of Ivanhoe was beyond bounds when he saw his master besprinkled with blood, and six or seven dead bodies lying around in the little glade in which the battle had taken place. Nor was he less surprised to see Richard surrounded by so many

silvan attendants-the outlaws, as they seemed to be, of the forest, and a perilous retinue therefore for a prince. He hesitated whether to address the king as the Black Knight-errant, or in what other manner to demean himself towards him. Richard saw his embarrassment.

2. "Fear not, Wilfred," he said, "to address Richard Plantagenet as himself, since thou seest him in the company of true English hearts, although it may be they have been urged a few steps aside by warm English blood."

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Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe," said the gallant outlaw, stepping forward, "my assurances can add nothing to those of our sovereign; yet, let me say somewhat proudly, that of men who have suffered much, he hath not truer subjects than those who now stand around him."

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3. "I cannot doubt it, brave man," said Wilfred, since thou art of the number. But what mean these marks of death and danger? these slain men, and the bloody armour of my prince?"

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Treason hath been with us, Ivanhoe," said the king; "but, thanks to these brave men, treason hath met its meed. But, now I bethink me, thou too art a traitor," said Richard smiling-“ a most disobedient traitor; for were not our orders positive that thou shouldst repose thyself at Saint Botolph's until thy wound was healed?"

4. "It is healed," said Ivanhoe; "it is not of more consequence than the scratch of a bodkin.— But why, oh why, noble prince, will you thus vex the hearts of your faithful servants, and expose

your life by lonely journeys and rash adventures; as if it were of no more value than that of a mere knight-errant, who has no interest on earth but what lance and sword may procure him?"

5. "And Richard Plantagenet," said the king, "desires no more fame than his good lance and sword may acquire him; and Richard Plantagenet is prouder of achieving an adventure, with only his good sword and his good arm to speed, than if he led to battle a host of a hundred thousand armed men."

"But your kingdom, my liege," said Ivanhoe, "your kingdom is threatened with dissolution and civil war your subjects menaced with every species of evil, if deprived of their sovereign in some of those dangers which it is your daily pleasure to incur, and from which you have but this moment narrowly escaped."

6. "Ho! ho! my kingdom and my subjects?" answered Richard impatiently. "I tell thee, Sir Wilfred, the best of them are most willing to repay my follies in kind. For example, my very faithful servant, Wilfred of Ivanhoe, will not obey my positive commands, and yet reads his king a homily because he does not walk exactly by his advice! Which of us has most reason to upbraid the other? Yet forgive me, my faithful Wilfred. The time I have spent and am yet to spend in concealment, is, as I explained to thee at Saint Botolph's, necessary to give my friends and faithful nobles time to assemble their forces; that when Richard's return is announced, he should be at the

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