But still she did not speak, and the man's heart
beat furiously with joy, and then stood still in fear, lest the worst
should come again, whereof there was no danger; but he did not know,
and Dunstan and Alric were suddenly gone, seeking wine in the house.
Just when the girl seemed to be sinking into a swoon they brought a
short draught of Syrian wine in an earthen cup; for little Alric was
not wise, but he would have found wine in the sandy desert, and he had
gone straight to a corner where a leathern bottle with a wooden plug
was hung up in a cool place.
Beatrix drank, and revived again, and looked up to Gilbert.
"I knew you would come," she said faintly, and she smiled, but Gilbert
could not speak.
By this time the Jewish boy had brought his mother, and they carried
the girl into a room, and the woman took care of her kindly, fearing
lest a Christian should die in her husband's house, and also lest she
should not be paid the value of the rent, but with womanly gentleness
also, wrapping her in dry clothes of her own before she laid her to
rest.
For Arnold de Curboil's servants had been all Greeks, and when they had
learned that their master had been killed in the night, they had bolted
and barred the house, and had bound Beatrix and her Norman tirewoman
hand and foot and gagged their mouths with cloths, in order that they
might carry off the rich plunder, but at first they had not meant to
kill the women. Only when they were just about to slip away, one at a
time, so as to escape notice, they held a council, and the most of them
said that it would be better to throw the women into the well, lest
either of them should help the other, and getting loose, escape from
the house and cause a pursuit.
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