'
'His foster-sister!' exclaimed Astarte.
At this moment Cypros appeared in the distance, hastening to Astarte
with an agitated air. Her looks were disturbed; she was almost
breathless when she reached them; she wrung her hands before she spoke.
'Royal lady!' at length she said, 'I hastened, as you instructed me,
at the appointed hour, to the Emir Fakredeen, but I learnt that he had
quitted the castle.
Then I repaired to the prisoner; but, woe is me! she is not to be
found.'
'Not to be found!'
'The raiment that she wore is lying on the floor of her prison. Methinks
she has fled.'
'She has fled with him who was false to us all,' said Astarte, 'for it
was the Emir of the Lebanon who long ago told me that you were affianced
to the daughter of Besso, and who warned me against joining in any
enterprise which was only to place upon the throne of Syria one whom the
laws of your own country would never recognise as your wife.'
'Intriguer!' said Tancred. 'Vile and inveterate intriguer!'
'It is well,' said Astarte. 'My spirit is more serene.'
'Would that Eva were with any one else!' said Tancred, thoughtfully, and
speaking, as it were, to himself.
'Your thoughts are with the daughter of Besso,' said Astarte.
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