was running to look at it. The King and Queen went to meet him, so delighted were they at his coming. It is useless to talk of the speeches that were made, and of the ceremonies which passed on one side and the other. They can be imagined well enough; but, when he asked to be allowed to make his bow to the Princess, he was very much surprised to find that favour was denied him. "It is no caprice of our own, my Lord Becafigue," said the King, "that induces us to refuse a request which you are perfectly justified in making; but, in order that you should understand our reasons, I must relate to you our daughter's extraordinary adventure.
"A Fairy took an aversion to her from the moment of her birth, and threatened her with some very great misfortune if she saw the light of day before the age of fifteen; we keep her in a palace the most beautiful apartments of which are underground. We had determined to take you there, when the Fairy Tulip forbade our doing so." "Ah, Sire!" replied the ambassador, "shall I have the misery of returning without her Highness? You have given her to the King, my master, for his son; she is waited for with the greatest impatience; is it possible that you hesitate on such trifling grounds as the predictions of fairies? Here is Prince Guerrier's portrait that I was desired to present her with,—it is so like him, that I think I see him before me when I look at it."
He immediately produced it. The portrait, which had only been taught to speak to the Princess, said, "Beautiful Désirée, you cannot imagine how ardently I await you; come quickly to our court, and ornament it by those graces which render you incomparable." The portrait ceased speaking. The King and Queen were so perfectly astonished, that they entreated Becafigue to give it them; he was delighted to do so, and placed it in their hands.
The Queen had not yet spoken to her daughter of what was passing; she had even forbidden the ladies who were near her to say anything of the ambassador's arrival. They had not however obeyed her, and the Princess knew a great marriage was in agitation for her, but she was so prudent that she took no notice of it to her mother. When she showed her the Prince's portrait, which spoke and paid her a compliment as affectionate as it was polite, she was indeed
