disturbed, and no doubt she would have believed that her prince had come,
if she had been unpleasantly struck by the poverty of his dress. She
had, nevertheless, allowed herself to listen to him longer than she ought
to have done, and she drew back with her bosom heavy, her cheek on fire,
and her heart rent by an ache that was both dull and sharp.

"If my father does not wish me to marry him," she said to herself,
tormented by the first remorseful feeling of her life. "I shall have
done wrong to speak to him. And yet he is so handsome!"

Then she knelt before the Virgin, who was her only confidante, the poor
child having never known her mother, and tried to tell her the torments
of her soul; but she could not achieve her prayer. The thoughts became
entangled within her brain, and she surprised herself uttering strange
words. But, assuredly, the Holy Virgin must have taken pity upon her
lovely devotee, for she rose with the impression of a consoling thought,
resolved to confide everything to her father.

"I cannot have a moment's doubt," she said to herself, as she unlaced her
bodice, "of my father's affection. Well, then, if he forbids me to speak
to him, it will be for my good. And indeed, I have seen him but this
once," she added, as she threw herself upon the bed, "and now I think of
it, I consider him very bold to dare to speak to me. I am almost inclined
to laugh at him. How confidently he brought out his nonsense, how
absurdly he rolled his eyes! They are really very fine, those eyes of
his, and so is his mouth, and his forehead and his hair. He does not
suspect that I noticed his hands, which are really very white, when he
raised them to heaven, like a madman, as he walked up and down by the
sea. Come, come, is he going to prevent my sleeping? I will not see him
again!" she cried, drawing the sheet over her head like an angry child.