Kenneth; "I bring him, I trust, health."

The Lord of Gilsland measured the Scot with incredulous eyes, and
replied, "Thou art no leech, I think, Sir Scot; I had as soon
thought of your bringing the King of England wealth."

Sir Kenneth, though displeased with the manner of the baron's
reply, answered calmly, "Health to Richard is glory and wealth to
Christendom.--But my time presses; I pray you, may I see the
King?"

"Surely not, fair sir," said the baron, "until your errand be
told more distinctly. The sick chambers of princes open not to
all who inquire, like a northern hostelry."

"My lord," said Kenneth, "the cross which I wear in common with
yourself, and the importance of what I have to tell, must, for
the present, cause me to pass over a bearing which else I were
unapt to endure. In plain language, then, I bring with me a
Moorish physician, who undertakes to work a cure on King
Richard."

"A Moorish physician!" said De Vaux; "and who will warrant that
he brings not poisons instead of remedies?"

"His own life, my lord--his head, which he offers as a
guarantee."

"I have known many a resolute ruffian," said De Vaux, "who valued
his own life as little as it deserved, and would troop to the