The talisman - Tapa blanda

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1895 edition. Excerpt: ...of two wretched dwarfs from the dethroned Queen of Jerusalem, as deformed and as crazy (the excellence of that unhappy species) as any queen could have desired. One of Berengaria's idle amusements had been to try the effect of the sudden appearance of such ghastly and fantastic forms on the nerves of the Knight when left alone in the chapel; but the jest had been lost by the composure of the Scot, and the interference of the anchorite. She had now tried another, of which the consequences promised to be more serious. The ladies again met after Sir Kenneth had retired from the tent; and the Queen, at first little moved by Edith's angry expostulations, only replied to her by upbraiding her prudery, and by indulging her wit at the expense of the garb, nation, and above all, the poverty, of the Knight of the Leopard, in which she displayed a good deal of playful malice, mingled with some humor, until Edith was compelled to carry her anxiety to her separate apartment. But when, in the morning, a female whom Edith had intrusted to make inquiry, brought word that the standard was missing, and its champion vanished, she burst into the Queen's apartment, and implored her to rise and proceed to the King's tent without delay, and use her powerful mediation to prevent the evil consequences of her jest. 1 Knnui (fin'-wg). The Queen, frightened in her turn, cast, as is usual, the blame of her own folly on those around her, and endeavored to comfort Edith's grief, and appease her displeasure, by a thousand inconsistent arguments. She was sure no harm had chanced; the Knight was sleeping, she fancied, after his night-watch. What though, for fear of the King's displeasure, he had deserted with the standard; it was but a piece of silk, and he but a needy...