he had just seen, that he immediately went into the chamber of the Queen, his mother, to tell her of the wonderful stars which shone upon their foreheads, and everything that he admired in them. She was thunderstruck at it. She asked him directly, how old they might be—he replied fifteen or sixteen; she showed no signs of uneasiness, but she was terribly afraid that Feintise had betrayed her. In the meantime, the King kept walking to and fro, and said, "How happy a father must be to possess such handsome sons, and such a beautiful daughter! Unfortunate sovereign that I am, for I am the father of three dogs. There are illustrious heirs! The succession to my crown is certainly well secured."
The Queen-Mother listened to these words with dreadful uneasiness. The brilliant stars and the age of these strangers, agreeing so well with the peculiarities and date of birth of the Princes and their sister, that she strongly suspected she had been deceived by Feintise, and that instead of killing the King's children she had saved them. As she had great self-possession, she gave no sign of what was passing in her mind; she would not even send that day to inquire about several things she was anxious to ascertain; but the next morning she desired her secretary to go to the strangers, and under the pretext of giving orders in the house for their accommodation, examine everything, and observe whether they really had stars upon their foreheads.
The secretary departed early in the morning; he arrived as the Princess was at her toilet: in those days they did not purchase their complexions at shops—those who were fair, remained fair, those who were black did not become white, so that he saw her having her hair dressed. They were combing it; her fair tresses, finer than gold thread, fell in ringlets to the ground. There were several baskets round her, to prevent the jewels, which fell from her hair, being lost: the star upon her forehead threw out so much brilliancy they could scarcely bear it, and the gold chain round her neck was as wonderful as the precious diamonds which rolled from the crown of her head. The secretary, with difficulty, believed his eyes; but the Princess, selecting the largest pearl, begged him to accept it, in remembrance of her; it was the one that the kings of Spain esteem so much, and is called
