Page:Stories from Old English Poetry-1899.djvu/180

158 Rh young prince Florizel, whom report spoke of as a promising boy. Leontes had for wife the most refined and beautiful princess of all Europe, and she had borne him one child, Mamillius, a precocious boy, to whom the hearts of both parent clung in doting fondness.

Leontes was a man of hasty temper and strong passions, quick in his judgments, and prone to make mistakes, for which he was bitterly accused by his conscience. He loved his queen with all the strength of his uneven and fitful nature. And Hermionethis was the queenwas so gentle and so yielding, that the sway of imperious Leontes seemed light and easy to her, and she loved him with her whole tender heart. She shared her husband’s interest in the coming of his royal friend, and had striven, since his arrival, to entertain him by her sweetness and grace of conversation; by the beauty of her singing, which was reputed marvelous; and by all the sweet womanly charms she could use as hostess and queen. So Polixenes found the time pass most pleasantly in the Sicilian palace.

But there were also affairs in Bohemia to be looked after. Merry-making is delightful, but even kings are slaves to their business, and Polixenes began to feel uneasy at tarrying, and announced to Leontes the day of his intended leave-taking. But with even more than wonted