Page:The Complete Works of William Makepeace Thackeray Vol.20.pdf/213

Rh there before the King and Queen; in which he looked so beautiful, that his cousin, the lovely daughter of the King of Circassia, died for love of him.”

“Why did he not marry the poor Princess?” asked Angelica, with a sigh.

“Because they were ﬁrst cousins, madam, and the clergy forbid these unions,” said the Painter. “And, besides, the young Prince had given his royal heart elsewhere.”

“And to whom?” asked her Royal Highness.

“I am not at liberty to mention the Princess’s name,” answered the Painter.

“But you may tell me the ﬁrst letter of it,” gasped out the Princess.

“That your Royal Highness is at liberty to guess,” says Lorenzo.

“Does it begin with a Z?” asked Angelica.

The Painter said it wasn’t a Z; then she tried a Y; then an X; then a W, and went so backwards through almost the whole alphabet.