The soldiers of the Cross, who should shun the glance of a woman as the eye of a basilisk, live in open sin, not with the females of their own race only, but with the daughters of the accursed heathen, and more accursed Jew. Beaumanoir, thou sleepest; up, and avenge our cause!⁠—Slay the sinners, male and female!⁠—Take to thee the brand of Phineas!⁠—The vision fled, Conrade, but as I awaked I could still hear the clank of their mail, and see the waving of their white mantles.⁠—And I will do according to their word, I will purify the fabric of the Temple! and the unclean stones in which the plague is, I will remove and cast out of the building.”

“Yet bethink thee, reverend father,” said Mont-Fitchet, “the stain hath become engrained by time and consuetude; let thy reformation be cautious, as it is just and wise.”