"I have trusted him," he said, "with all he asked, and with the power of ruining me entirely, if such be his purpose. He has but to breathe a whisper, and the whole mad crew of crusaders, kept in humour at the expense of so much current falsehood, and so much more gold, will return with fire and sword to burn down Constantinople, and sow with salt the place where it stood. I have done what I had resolved never to do,--I have ventured kingdom and life on the faith of a man born of woman. How often have I said, nay, sworn, that I would not hazard myself on such peril, and yet, step by step, I have done so! I cannot tell--there is in that man's looks and words a good faith which overwhelms me; and, what is almost incredible, my belief in him has increased in proportion to his showing me how slight my power was over him. I threw, like the wily angler, every bait I could devise, and some of them such as a king would scarcely have disdained; to none of these would he rise; but yet he gorges, I may say, the bare hook, and enters upon my service without a shadow of self-interest.--Can this be double-distilled treachery?--or can it be what men call disinterestedness?--If I thought him false, the moment is not yet past--he has not yet crossed the bridge--he has not passed the guards of the palace, who have no hesitation, and know no disobedience--But no--I were then alone in the land, and without a friend or confidant.--I hear the sound of the outer gate unclose, the sense of danger certainly renders my ears more acute than usual.--It shuts again--the die is cast. He is at liberty--and Alexius Comnenus must stand or fall, according to the uncertain faith of a mercenary Varangian." He clapt his hands; a slave appeared, of whom he demanded wine. He drank, and his heart was cheered within him. "I am decided," he said, "and will abide with resolution the cast of the throw, for good or for evil." So saying, he retired to his apartment, and was not again seen during that night. CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND. And aye, as if for death, some lonely trumpet peal'd. CAMPBELL.