Tancred had learnt something of the arts of mountain warfare from Sheikh Amalek.  He allowed the Turkish troops to penetrate into the heart of the wild hills, and then, as they were marching down a long defile, he attacked them from the crests above, shooting them down like sheep and burying them in avalanches of rolling rock.  Instead of returning to the fortress palace, he sent his men on ahead, and rode out alone into the desert, and went through the Syrian wilderness back to Jerusalem.

Riding up to the door of Besso’s house by Sion gate, he asked if there were any news of Eva.  A negro led him into a garden, and there, sitting by the side of a fountain, was the lovely Jewish maiden.

“So Fakredeen brought you safely away, Eva,” he said tenderly.  “I was afraid that Astarte meant to harm you.”

“She would have killed me,” said Eva, “if she could.  I am afraid that your faith in your idea of theocratic equality has been destroyed by the Ansareys.  How can you build up an empire in a land divided by so many jarring creeds?  Do you still believe in Arabia?”

“I believe in Arabia,” cried Tancred, kneeling down at her feet, “because I believe in you.  You are the angel of Arabia, and the angel of my life.  You cannot guess what influence you have had on my fate.  You came into my life like another messenger from God.  Thanks to you, my faith has never faltered.  Will you not share it, dearest?”

He clasped her hand, and gazed with passionate adoration into her face.  As her head fell upon his shoulder, the negro came running to the fountain.

“The Duke of Bellamont!” he said to Tancred.

Tancred looked up, and saw the Duke of Bellamont coming through the pomegranate trees of the garden.

“Father,” he said, advancing towards the duke, “I have found my mission in life, and I am going to marry this lady.”

* * * * *

ALEXANDRE DUMAS

Marguerite de Valois

      Alexandre Dumas, pere (to distinguish him from his son of
     the same name), early became known as a talented writer, and
     especially as a poet and dramatist.  His first published work
     appeared in 1823; then came volumes of poems in 1825, 1826,
     and the drama of “Henry III.” in 1828.  In “Marguerite de
     Valois,” published in 1845, the first of the “Valois” series
     of historical romances, Dumas takes us back from the days of
     Richelieu and the “Three Musketeers” to the preceding century
     and the early struggles of Catholic and Huguenot.  It was a
     stirring time in France, full of horrors and bloodshed, plots
     and intrigues, when Marguerite de Valois married Henry of
     Navarre, and Alexandre Dumas gives us, in his wonderfully,
     vivid and attractive style, a great picture of the French