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blessed precept which teaches to forgive. " Yield," said the 

 prince, for he knew not the damsel in her strange attire ; 

 he thought, most probably, that the youth before him was 

 in the service of the outlaw, and that his command would be 

 sufficient to enforce obedience. The stranger was not 

 thus to be subdued, and so firmly did she maintain her 

 assumed character, that the prince was obliged to with- 

 draw. John heard that his antagonist was no other than 

 the young flower of Baynard castle, Marian, whose father 

 he had slain, and he resolved to be avenged on her 

 also. 



Maid Marian became the wife of Robinhood, arid when 

 King Richard restored to him his earldom and estates, 

 she presided in his baronial hall with equal courtesy and 

 magnificence. John succeeded to the throne on his 

 brother's death, and then the vengeance which had long 

 brooded in his sullen breast fell heavy on the earl ; he 

 was again outlawed, and for many long and weary years 

 did his fair young wife follow his fortunes. Time, and 

 the hardships which he endured, had at length weakened the 

 strength of the bold outlaw. He tried his shafts one 

 morning, and finding that they neither flew so far, nor so 

 fast as his strong arm was wont to send them, he resolved 

 to repair to Kirkley nunnery, where his cousin presided as 

 prioress. He had heard much of her skill in medicine, 

 and hoped that she might stay the fever that raged in his 

 veins. " Thrice welcome, cousin Robert," she said, but 

 treachery was in her heart, for she bore no good-will to 



