Wherefore, be wise and silent still." The Nubian, so soon as the King had removed his heavy grasp from his shoulder, bent his head, and laid his hand on his lips, in token of silent obedience.
But Richard again laid his hand on him more gently, and added, "This behest we lay on thee as on a slave.

Wert thou knight and gentleman, we would require thine honour in pledge of thy silence, which is one especial condition of our present trust." The Ethiopian raised his body proudly, looked full at the King, and laid his right hand on his heart.
Richard then summoned his chamberlain.
"Go, Neville," he said, "with this slave to the tent of our royal consort, and say it is our pleasure that he have an audience--a private audience--of our cousin Edith.

He is charged with a commission to her.
Thou canst show him the way also, in case he requires thy guidance, though thou mayst have observed it is wonderful how familiar he already seems to be with the purlieus of our camp .-- And thou, too, friend Ethiop," the King continued, "what thou dost do quickly, and return hither within the half-hour." "I stand discovered," thought the seeming Nubian, as, with downcast looks and folded arms, he followed the hasty stride of Neville towards the tent of Queen Berengaria--"I stand undoubtedly discovered and unfolded to King Richard; yet I cannot perceive that his resentment is hot against me.

If I understand his words--and surely it is impossible to misinterpret them--he gives me a noble chance of redeeming my honour upon the crest of this false Marquis, whose guilt I read in his craven eye and quivering lip when the charge was made against him .-- Roswal, faithfully hast thou served thy master, and most dearly shall thy wrong be avenged!--But what is the meaning of my present permission to look upon her whom I had despaired ever to see again?
And why, or how, can the royal Plantagenet consent that I should see his divine kinswoman, either as the messenger of the heathen Saladin, or as the guilty exile whom he so lately expelled from his camp--his audacious avowal of the affection which is his pride being the greatest enhancement of his guilt?
That Richard should consent to her receiving a letter from an infidel lover by the hands of one of such disproportioned rank are either of them circumstances equally incredible, and, at the same time, inconsistent with each other.

But Richard, when unmoved by his heady passions, is liberal, generous, and truly noble; and as such I will deal with him, and act according to his instructions, direct or implied, seeking to know no more than may gradually unfold itself without my officious inquiry.