Page:The venture; an annual of art and literature.djvu/108

 and surmised that the Princess's melancholy was caused by his absence and the love she bore him, and the promise of marriage which she had given him in requital for his having delivered her from captivity, straightway determined to go with them, and told them that he would serve them all he could, and that he would not go as their companion but as their servant, to aid all he might in so excellent a work. And they replied with no less courtesy that they could not treat him as their servant, but that they would go as brothers, and he, having made them the acknowledgements that were due, took one of their instruments, and touching it gave them proof of his skill, which was indeed exquisite, at which they showed great content. When they came forth from the inn three youths issued from the stables, and brought six horses, and all mounting took their way until they came to the capital city of England, and made the King to wit that they had heard of the melancholy of his daughter, and begged leave to play and sing before her. The King thanked them for the trouble of their journey, and promised to repay them, and bade them to the palace, where if they could cure the daughter he had mourned for as dead, and the sight of whom now filled him with sadness, reminding him of his wife who had died of grief for her sake, they should be welcome all their lives. And so the three comrades went to play and sing before the King and the princess, she sitting inside in another room where she could see and hear without being seen; thus for a long time they played and sang with such melody and charm that none could but com-