his brother had supplanted him in the affections of the princess, he determined to pursue him to his new domin-ions and take summary vengeance upon him. To soothe the irritated and jealous feelings of Cohr-Eddin, Elsiebede had been under the necessity of revealing the secret which her younger son had confided to her on the eve of his de-parture for Egypt, namely, his early attachment for Mary formed during a residence at the Latin court, the hope he had cherished of uniting the kingdoms by a union with the object of his affections, and the struggle it had cost him to relinquish those pretensions. Cohr-Eddin, less noble than his brother, could scarcely be brought to credit the asser-tion that Camel's visit to Acre had originated in a desire to leave Mary free to accept his proposals, but as it was then the festival of the Ramadan, in which it is not permitted for the faithful to make war upon each other, the execution of his revenge was necessarily delayed, and before the ex-piration of the sacred period, his presence was required upon the frontiers of his kingdom to repel the irruption of the Mongols. The timely relief afforded by the stores of the caravan, and the warlike fame and forces of his brother, soon rein-stated Camel in his possessions ; but their united efforts were insufficient to drive the Christians from Egypt. Be-fore leaving Palestine, Cohr-Eddin apprehensive that his own territories might be garrisoned against him, destroyed the wall of Jerusalem, and broke down its defences with the exception of the tower of David, and the temple of the sepulchre ; and after many gallant battles, deeming it im-possible to raise the siege of Damietta, he proposed to the Crusaders peace. The Moslems, he said, would give up the piece of the true cross, release all the Christian prison-ers in Syria and Egypt, rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and relinquish the sacred city to its Latin king, John de Brienne. The French and the Germans hailed with joy the pros-pect of a speedy termination of the war ; but the fanatical 320 HEROINES OF THE CRUSADES.