_Chapter II_


[Illustration]

When some time had passed and King Fenis marked that the intelligence of
his son was now beginning to awake, he called the child to him and said:
'Fleur, now must you go diligently to school and learn of the wise
Master Gaidon.' But for all answer to this command Fleur burst into
tears, crying out:

'Father! neither reading, writing, nor aught else will I learn, except I
have Blanchefleur to be my fellow scholar.' To this the king consented,
so the two children with great joy went hand in hand to school, and
there by mutual aid and encouragement so quickly acquired the rudiments
of learning that in no long time they were able to exchange love
letters, which, being written in the Latin tongue, were not understood
by the other scholars.

[Illustration]

The tender love which, thus growing with their growth, knit the hearts
of these two children together, began, however, to cause displeasure to
the King, who, fearing lest it should tend to thwart his plan of wedding
his son to a royal bride, determined to part the two, if by fair
means--well! if not, then by Blanchefleur's death; but the Queen, in
dread that her son might die of grief, pled with her lord to spare