youth appeared before Orosman overwhelmed with the double refusal. The Soldan observed his trouble, and experienced from that moment the beginnings of a jealousy which the generosity of his character enabled him to stifle; however, he ordered that the hundred cavaliers should be ready to set out with Nerestan next day.
Zaire, on the point of becoming sultana, wished to give Nerestan one proof of gratitude; she threw herself at Orosman's feet to beg liberty for old Lusignan. Orosman could deny her nothing; the captive was brought from his prison. The redeemed Christians were with Nerestan in the outer courts of the seraglio, weeping the doom of Lusignan; above all, the Chevalier de Chatillon, the close friend of the unfortunate prince, could not make up his mind to accept that freedom which was refused to his master,—when Zaire entered among them, bringing with her him whom they had despaired of seeing more.
Lusignan, dazzled with the light, which he had been deprived of during twenty years of captivity, could scarcely endure it, not knowing where he was, nor whither they were conducting him. Seeing at last that he was among his countrymen, and recognising Chatillon, he gives way to the joy mingled with bitterness which the wretched feel in their consolations. He inquires to whom he owes his deliverance. Zaire, presenting Nerestan, answers that it is to him that all the Christians owe their liberty. When the old man learns that Nerestan has been brought up in the seraglio with Zaire, he beseeches them to tell him of the fate of his children. "Two," he says, "were seized in the cradle when I was taken in Cæsarea; two others, with their mother, were killed before my eyes. I have heard that my youngest son and my daughter were brought to this seraglio. Have you, Nerestan, Zaire, Chatillon, no knowledge of what has become of these sad remains of the race of Godfrey and of Lusignan?"
While he thus questioned them, he perceived on Zaire's arm an ornament enclosing a cross, and remembered that his daughter had worn such when carried to the font—Chatillon had placed it on her—and she had been snatched from his
