of my brother Robert," said slie. " Did not his peers deem him worthy a principality in Palestine?" " Nay, it needed not the suffrages of the chiefs, since heav-en itself preferred my poor claims above all others," replied Robert. " When a king was to be chosen, the bishops gave to each leader a waxen candle, and directed us to walk in procession to the Holy Sepulchre. As we advanced within the sacred place, a sudden flame kindled upon the taper I held in my hand, but at that moment a whisper of Rufus' death swept across my spirit, and remembering the throne of England I dashed out the light."— " Unhappy man !" exclaimed the countess. "Thtu hast refused the call of heaven. Look not for success in any future enterprise. Hope not that divine sanction will back thine endeavor, and expect not aid or succor by thy sister's intervention." "By the Holy Rood," shouted Robert in wrath, " thou Queen'st it well for a woman whose craven husband was the first to desert his standard. It were indeed the part of a madman to expect assistance from the dastard earl." Before the anger of the countess gave her voice to reply, he strode from her presence. Meantime, Henry hearing that Robert had arrived in Normandy, strengthened his power by conciliating the English nation, and took prompt measures to redeem his promise of giving them an English Queen. But for some unaccountable reason the Saxon princess seemed averse to quitting her gloomy convent, nor would she consent to be-stow her hand upon the handsomest and most accom-plished sovereign of his time, till he had promised to con-firm to the nation all the ancient laws and privileges estab-lished by her great ancestor Alfred, and ratified by Edward the Confessor. When a digest of these rights and immu-nities had been made, and a hundred copies committed to the care of the principal bishoprics and monasteries of England, she consented to become " the bond of peace to a divided nation—the dove of the newly sealed covenant between the Norman sovereign and her own people." 106 HEROINES OF THE CRUSADES.