The feast, however, which was spread upon the board, needed no apologies
from the lord of the mansion. Swine's flesh, dressed in several modes,
appeared on the lower part of the board, as also that of fowls, deer,
goats, and hares, and various kinds of fish, together with huge loaves
and cakes of bread, and sundry confections made of fruits and honey.
The smaller sorts of wild-fowl, of which there was abundance, were
not served up in platters, but brought in upon small wooden spits or
broaches, and offered by the pages and domestics who bore them, to each
guest in succession, who cut from them such a portion as he pleased.
Beside each person of rank was placed a goblet of silver; the lower
board was accommodated with large drinking horns.
When the repast was about to commence, the major-domo, or steward,
suddenly raising his wand, said aloud,--"Forbear!--Place for the Lady
Rowena."
A side-door at the upper end of the hall now opened behind the banquet
table, and Rowena, followed by four female attendants, entered the
apartment. Cedric, though surprised, and perhaps not altogether
agreeably so, at his ward appearing in public on this occasion, hastened
to meet her, and to conduct her, with respectful ceremony, to the
elevated seat at his own right hand, appropriated to the lady of the
mansion. All stood up to receive her; and, replying to their courtesy by
a mute gesture of salutation, she moved gracefully forward to assume her
place at the board. Ere she had time to do so, the Templar whispered to
the Prior, "I shall wear no collar of gold of yours at the tournament.
The Chian wine is your own."
"Said I not so?" answered the Prior; "but check your raptures, the
Franklin observes you."
Unheeding this remonstrance, and accustomed only to act upon the
immediate impulse of his own wishes, Brian de Bois-Guilbert kept
his eyes riveted on the Saxon beauty, more striking perhaps to his
imagination, because differing widely from those of the Eastern
sultanas.
Formed in the best proportions of her sex, Rowena was tall in stature,
yet not so much so as to attract observation on account of superior
height. Her complexion was exquisitely fair, but the noble cast of her
head and features prevented the insipidity which sometimes attaches
to fair beauties. Her clear blue eye, which sat enshrined beneath a
graceful eyebrow of brown sufficiently marked to give expression to the
forehead, seemed capable to kindle as well as melt, to command as well
as to beseech. If mildness were the more natural expression of such a
combination of features, it was plain, that in the present instance, the
exercise of habitual superiority, and the reception of general homage,
had given to the Saxon lady a loftier character, which mingled with and
qualified that bestowed by nature. Her profuse hair, of a colour betwixt
brown and flaxen, was arranged in a fanciful and graceful manner in
numerous ringlets, to form which art had probably aided nature. These
locks were braided with gems, and, being worn at full length, intimated
the noble birth and free-born condition of the maiden. A golden chain,
to which was attached a small reliquary of the same metal, hung round
her neck. She wore bracelets on her arms, which were bare. Her dress was
an under-gown and kirtle of pale sea-green silk, over which hung a long
loose robe, which reached to the ground, having very wide sleeves, which
came down, however, very little below the elbow. This robe was crimson,
and manufactured out of the very finest wool. A veil of silk, interwoven
with gold, was attached to the upper part of it, which could be, at
the wearer's pleasure, either drawn over the face and bosom after the
Spanish fashion, or disposed as a sort of drapery round the shoulders.