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Rh remained whole days together shut up alone in his closet, where they could hear him talking, as though he had some lady with him.

The King received this information with much uneasiness. "Is it possible," said he to his confidants, "that my son has lost his reason? he has always evinced so much. You know how greatly he has been admired up to this moment; and I do not see anything wild in his looks. He appears to me to be only a little melancholy: I must talk to him; I may, perhaps, be able to discover what sort of madness has seized him."

Consequently he sent for him, ordered every one else to withdraw, and, after several things to which the Prince paid little attention, and to which he answered very indifferently, the King asked him, what was the cause of the alteration in his manner and person. The Prince, believing this to be a favourable opportunity, threw himself at his father's feet, and said: "You have resolved that I shall wed the Black Princess; you will find some great advantages in this alliance that I could not promise from that with the Princess Désirée; but, Sire, I discover charms in the latter, that I shall not meet with in the former." "And where have you discovered them?" said the King. "The portraits of the one and the other have been brought to me," replied Prince Guerrier (for thus he was named after having won three great battles). "I confess that I am desperately in love with Princess Désirée; and, if you do not retract the promise you have given to the Black Princess, I shall die!—happy in ceasing to live, losing the hope of being hers I love."

"It is with her portrait, then," gravely answered the King, "that you have chosen to hold conversations which have rendered you ridiculous in the eyes of all the courtiers? They believe you to be mad; and if you knew what has been said to me on the subject, you would be ashamed of showing so much weakness." "I cannot reproach myself for entertaining so worthy a passion," answered the Prince. "When you have seen the portrait of this charming Princess, you will approve of my affection for her." "Go for it, then, directly:" said the King, with an impatient air, which evidently indicated his vexation. The Prince would have been much distressed at it, if he had not felt certain that nothing could be equal to