Page:Peregrinaggio di tre giovani figliuoli del re di Serendippo.djvu/159

 Dressed as before and richly adorned with the jewels he had given her, she came to meet him in the hall with Feristeno.

Immediately, when the King saw the jewelry that he had seen on Giulla, he was even more surprised than before. He turned to Giassemen and asked him who these young people were.

To which Giassemen replied, "Sire, this is one of my companions, a merchant like myself, and that is his wife."

But since the King did not feel satisfied by this reply, he asked the young woman kindly, if she could lend him the jewels that adorned her neck, which he would return in a very short time. He wanted to compare them with some of the jewels in the Giulistano palace, meaning that he wanted to compare them which the jewels which he had first given to Giulla.

She appeared agreeable to this. "But Sire,” she answered, “because I should be greatly ashamed to remove the jewels from my neck in your presence, I shall do so in the adjacent room and bring them to you forthwith, so that you can dispose of them as well as of anything else, which may please you, and which we offer you wholeheartedly." The King heard these words which reminded him of the voice of Giulla in the room where he talked with her previously. He listened carefully and disturbed beyond measure, he began saying to himself, "What greater security than that can I have with the jewels, now I have seen and listened to her speak?