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546 himself at the spot where his mistress reposed in death, he uttered such tender and passionate expressions that no one has ever spoken so touchingly. Even the hard-hearted Queen could not help melting into tears. Mirtain was as much afflicted as his master; and all who heard him sympathised in his despair. All on a sudden, in a fit of frenzy he drew his sword, and approaching the marble which he believed covered the beautiful body of Constancia, he would have slain himself if the Queen and Mirtain had not caught his arm. "No!" said he, "nothing in the world shall prevent my rejoining in death my dear Princess!" The title of Princess which he gave to the shepherdess surprised the Queen. She fancied her son was raving, and would have thought he had lost his senses completely if in all other respects he had not expressed himself rationally.

She asked him wherefore he called Constancia a Princess. He replied, that she was so; that her kingdom was called the Kingdom of Deserts; that she was the sole heir to it: and that he should never have named it but that there were no longer any reasons for secrecy. "Alas, my son!" said the Queen, "since Constancia is of equal rank with yourself, be comforted, for she is not dead. I will confess to you, in order to appease your sorrow, that I sold her to some merchants, who have carried her off as a slave." "Ah!" said the Prince, "you tell me this to shake the resolution I have made to die, but my mind is made up, and nothing can change it." "Then," said the Queen, "your own eyes must convince you;" and thereupon she ordered them to dig up the waxen figure. As at first sight he took it to be the body of his charming Princess, he fell into a deep swoon, from which they had great difficulty in recovering him. The Queen in vain assured him that Constancia was not dead. After the wicked trick she had played him he would not believe her: but Mirtain succeeded in persuading him of the fact. He knew his attachment to him, and that he was not capable of telling him a falsehood.

He felt in some degree relieved, for of all misfortunes her death appeared to him the most terrible, and he could now flatter himself with the hope of seeing his mistress once again. But where should he seek her?—the merchants who had bought her were strangers; they had not said whither they