most urgently needed by the country; he contrived to put so much warmth,
yet so much reserve, into his speech that he destroyed the disagreeable
impression his arrival had produced. In spite of the irregularities of
her youth and the depravity brought about by her wretched education,
Joan's nature impelled her to noble action: when the welfare of her
subjects was concerned, she rose above the limitations of her age and
sex, and, forgetting her strange position, listened to the Duke of
Durazzo with the liveliest interest and the kindliest attention. He
then hazarded allusions to the dangers that beset a young queen, spoke
vaguely of the difficulty in distinguishing between true devotion
and cowardly complaisance or interested attachment; he spoke of the
ingratitude of many who had been loaded with benefits, and had been most
completely trusted. Joan, who had just learned the truth of his words
by sad experience, replied with a sigh, and after a moment's silence
added--

"May God, whom I call to witness for the loyalty and uprightness of my
intentions, may God unmask all traitors and show me my true friends!
I know that the burden laid upon me is heavy, and I presume not on my
strength, but I trust that the tried experience of those counsellors to
whom my uncle entrusted me, the support of my family, and your warm and
sincere friendship above all, my dear cousin, will help me to accomplish
my duty."

"My sincerest prayer is that you may succeed, my fair cousin, and I will
not darken with doubts and fears a time that ought to be given up to
joy; I will not mingle with the shouts of gladness that rise on all
sides to proclaim you queen, any vain regrets over that blind fortune
which has placed beside the woman whom we all alike adore, whose single
glance would make a man more blest than the angels, a foreigner unworthy