Chapter 16 - Page 2

Eveline's beauty make that
impression upon De Lacy, which it was calculated to do on the
fiery and impassioned chivalry of the age. He was past that period
of life when the wise are captivated by outward form, and might
have said with truth, as well as with discretion, that he could
have wished his beautiful bride several years older, and possessed
of a more moderate portion of personal charms, in order to have
rendered the match more fitted for his own age and disposition.
This stoicism, however, vanished, when, on repeated interviews
with his destined bride, he found that she was indeed
inexperienced in life, but desirous to be guided by superior
wisdom; and that, although gifted with high spirit, and a
disposition which began to recover its natural elastic gaiety, she
was gentle, docile, and, above all, endowed with a firmness of
principle, which seemed to give assurance that she would tread
uprightly, and without spot, the slippery paths in which youth,
rank, and beauty, are doomed to move.

As feelings of a warmer and more impassioned kind towards Eveline
began to glow in De Lacy's bosom, his engagements as a crusader
became more and more burdensome to him. The Benedictine Abbess,
the natural guardian of Eveline's happiness, added to these
feelings by her reasoning and remonstrances. Although a nun and a
devotee, she held in reverence the holy state of matrimony, and
comprehended so much of it as to be aware, that its important
purposes could not be accomplished while the whole continent of
Europe was interposed betwixt the married pair; for as to a hint
from the Constable, that his young spouse might accompany him into
the dangerous and dissolute precincts of the Crusader's camp, the
good lady crossed herself with horror at the proposal, and never
permitted it to be a second time mentioned in her presence.

It was not, however, uncommon for kings, princes, and other
persons of high consequence, who had taken upon them the vow to
rescue Jerusalem, to obtain delays, and even a total remission of
their engagement, by proper application to the Church of Rome. The
Constable was sure to possess the full advantage of his
sovereign's interest and countenance, in seeking permission to
remain in England, for he was the noble to whose valour and policy
Henry had chiefly intrusted the defence of the disorderly Welsh
marches; and it was by no means with his good-will that so useful
a subject had ever assumed the cross.

It was settled, therefore, in private betwixt the Abbess and the
Constable, that the latter should solicit at Rome, and with the
Pope's Legate in England, a remission of his vow for at least two
years; a favour which it was thought could scarce be refused to
one of his