These words he spoke in the French language, and not in the
lingua franca, or compound of Eastern and European dialects,
which had hitherto been used amongst them.

"Arise," he continued, "put on thy mantle; speak not, but tread
lightly, and follow me."

Sir Kenneth arose, and took his sword.

"It needs not," answered the anchorite, in a whisper; "we are
going where spiritual arms avail much, and fleshly weapons are
but as the reed and the decayed gourd."

The knight deposited his sword by the bedside as before, and,
armed only with his dagger, from which in this perilous country
he never parted, prepared to attend his mysterious host.

The hermit then moved slowly forwards, and was followed by the
knight, still under some uncertainty whether the dark form which
glided on before to show him the path was not, in fact, the
creation of a disturbed dream. They passed, like shadows, into
the outer apartment, without disturbing the paynim Emir, who lay
still buried in repose. Before the cross and altar, in the
outward room, a lamp was still burning, a missal was displayed,
and on the floor lay a discipline, or penitential scourge of
small cord and wire, the lashes of which were recently stained
with blood--a token, no doubt, of the severe penance of the
recluse. Here Theodorick kneeled down, and pointed to the knight
to take his place beside him upon the sharp flints, which seemed