I will speak in presence of the Lord of Gilsland.

He is good lord and true." "But half an hour since," said De Vaux, with a groan, implying a mixture of sorrow and vexation, "and I had said as much for thee!" "There is treason around you, King of England," continued Sir Kenneth.
"It may well be as thou sayest," replied Richard; "I have a pregnant example." "Treason that will injure thee more deeply than the loss of a hundred banners in a pitched field.

The--the--" Sir Kenneth hesitated, and at length continued, in a lower tone, "The Lady Edith--" "Ha!" said the King, drawing himself suddenly into a state of haughty attention, and fixing his eye firmly on the supposed criminal; "what of her?
what of her?
What has she to do with this matter ?" "My lord," said the Scot, "there is a scheme on foot to disgrace your royal lineage, by bestowing the hand of the Lady Edith on the Saracen Soldan, and thereby to purchase a peace most dishonourable to Christendom, by an alliance most shameful to England." This communication had precisely the contrary effect from that which Sir Kenneth expected.

Richard Plantagenet was one of those who, in Iago's words, would not serve God because it was the devil who bade him; advice or information often affected him less according to its real import, than through the tinge which it took from the supposed character and views of those by whom it was communicated.

Unfortunately, the mention of his relative's name renewed his recollection of what he had considered as extreme presumption in the Knight of the Leopard, even when he stood high in the roll of chivalry, but which, in his present condition, appeared an insult sufficient to drive the fiery monarch into a frenzy of passion.
"Silence," he said, "infamous and audacious! By Heaven, I will have thy tongue torn out with hot pincers, for mentioning the very name of a noble Christian damsel! Know, degenerate traitor, that I was already aware to what height thou hadst dared to raise thine eyes, and endured it, though it were insolence, even when thou hadst cheated us--for thou art all a deceit--into holding thee as of some name and fame.