brook no refusal, "Will you be of our hunting party to-morrow, duke?"

"Excuse me, my lord," said Charles, bowing down to the ground; "it will
be impossible for me to go to-morrow, for my wife is very unwell; but I
entreat you to accept the best falcon I have."

And here he cast upon the notary a petrifying glance.

The morning of the 20th of August was fine and calm--the irony of nature
contrasting cruelly with the fate of mankind. From break of day masters
and valets, pages and knights, princes and courtiers, all were on
foot; cries of joy were heard on every side when the queen arrived on
a snow-white horse, at the head of the young and brilliant throng. Joan
was perhaps paler than usual, but that might be because she had been
obliged to rise very early. Andre, mounted on one of the most fiery of
all the steeds he had tamed, galloped beside his wife, noble and proud,
happy in his own powers, his youth, and the thousand gilded hopes that a
brilliant future seemed to offer. Never had the court of Naples shown
so brave an aspect: every feeling of distrust and hatred seemed entirely
forgotten; Friar Robert himself, suspicious as he was by nature, when he
saw the joyous cavalcade go by under his window, looked out with pride,
and stroking his beard, laughed at his own seriousness.

Andre's intention was to spend several days hunting between Capua and
Aversa, and only to return to Naples when all was in readiness for his
coronation. Thus the first day they hunted round about Melito, and went
through two or three villages in the land of Labore. Towards evening
the court stopped at Aversa, with a view to passing the night there,
and since at that period there was no castle in the place worthy of
entertaining the queen with her husband and numerous court, the convent