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524 profess, it is easy for you to prove it to me." "Ah, what can I possibly do for you, my Lord?" inquired Constancia, eagerly. "You can tell me," added he, "to whom the words applied which I have just heard you sing." "As they are not mine," she answered, "it would be difficult for me to give you any information on that subject." While she spoke, he examined her countenance narrowly; he saw she blushed, that she was confused, and kept her eyes fixed on the ground. "Why would you conceal your feelings from me, Constancia?" said he. "Your face betrays the secret of your heart—you love!" He paused, and riveted his glances still more earnestly upon her. "My Lord," said she, "that which interests me so little deserves the attention of a great Prince; and I am so unused to talking while I tend my dear sheep, that I beseech you to pardon me if I do not answer your questions." She made so hasty a retreat, that he had not time to stop her.

Jealousy will sometimes rekindle the torch of Love. The Prince's passion at this moment burst into such a flame, that nothing could ever extinguish it. He discovered a thousand graces in that young maiden which he had not remarked the first time he saw her. The manner in which she had left him, convinced him as much as her words that she was partial to some shepherd; a deep melancholy took possession of his soul. He dared not follow her, great as was his anxiety to renew the conversation. He flung himself upon the spot she had just quitted, and after recalling to his memory the verses he had heard her sing, he wrote them down in his tablets, and examined them carefully. "It is only within these few days," said he, "she has seen this Constancio, who so occupies her thoughts. Must I bear the same name, and be so far from his good fortune? How coldly she looked on me! she seemed more indifferent to-day than when I first met with her. Her chief care was to find some pretext for leaving me." These thoughts afflicted him deeply, for he could not comprehend how a simple shepherdess could be so indifferent to a powerful prince.

As soon as he returned to the palace, he sent for a youth who was his companion in all his pleasures; he was of high birth, and very amiable. He ordered him to assume the dress of a shepherd, obtain a flock, and lead it every day to the Queen's pastures, in order to observe Constancia without