Then Rosamund rose from her knees, and, standing before him, said: 

“I am come, O my mighty lord, to plead for the people of Jerusalem, because it was told me that you would listen to no other voice than that of this your slave.  See, many moons ago, you had a vision concerning me.  Thrice you dreamed in the night that I, the niece whom you had never seen, by some act of mine should be the means of saving much life and a way of peace.  Therefore you tore me from my home and brought my father to a bloody death, as you are about to bring his daughter; and after much suffering and danger I fell into your power, and was treated with great honour.  Still I, who am a Christian, and who grew sick with the sight of the daily slaughter and outrage of my kin, strove to escape from you, although you had warned me that the price of this crime was death; and in the end, through the wit and sacrifice of another woman, I did escape.

“Now I return to pay that price, and behold! your vision is fulfilled—­or, at the least, you can fulfil it if God should touch your heart with grace, seeing that of my own will I am come to pray you, Salah-ed-din, to spare the city, and for its blood to accept mine as a token and an offering.

“Oh, my lord! as you are great, be merciful.  What will it avail you in the day of your own judgment that you have added another eighty thousand to the tally of your slain, and with them many more thousands of your own folk, since the warriors of Jerusalem will not die unavenged?  Give them their lives and let them go free, and win thereby the gratitude of mankind and the forgiveness of God above.”

So Rosamund spoke, and stretching out her arms towards him, was silent.

“These things I offered to them, and they were refused,” answered Saladin.  “Why should I grant them now that they are conquered?”

“My lord, Strong-to-Aid,” said Rosamund, “do you, who are so brave, blame yonder knights and soldiers because they fought on against desperate odds?  Would you not have called them cowards if they had yielded up the city where their Saviour died and struck no blow to save it?  Oh!  I am outworn!  I can say no more; but once again, most humbly and on my knees, I beseech you speak the word of mercy, and let not your triumph be dyed red with the blood of women and of little children.”

Then casting herself upon her face, Rosamund clasped the hem of his royal robe with her hands, and pressed it to her forehead.

So for a while she lay there in the shimmering moonlight, while utter silence fell upon all that vast multitude of armed men as they waited for the decree of fate to be uttered by the conqueror’s lips.  But Saladin sat still as a statue, gazing at the domes and towers of Jerusalem outlined against the deep blue sky.

“Rise,” he said at length, “and know, niece, that you have played your part in a fashion worthy of my race, and that I, Salah-ed-din, am proud of you.  Know also that I will weigh your prayer as I have weighed that of none other who breathes upon the earth.  Now I must take counsel with my own heart, and to-morrow it shall be granted—­or refused.  To you, who are doomed to die, and to the knight who chooses to die with you, according to the ancient law and custom, I offer the choice of Islam, and with it life and honour.”