"My letters!" said Louise, astonished; "why should I have written
letters to your highness? I do not believe it is the custom for
ladies to write to gentlemen voluntarily. It has been two weeks
since I received a letter from your highness."

"Because it was impossible for my messenger to deliver them, Louise:
you were so unapproachable, at least for me. But you must have known
that my thoughts were always with you, that my heart pined for news
and comfort from you."

"Non, vraiment, I did not know it," said Louise, laughingly.

"You did not know it?" asked Henry, wonderingly. "Well, what did you
suppose?"

"I thought," she said, carelessly--"I thought that Prince Henry had
overcome or forgotten his little folly of the carnival."

"And then?"

"Then I determined to follow his example. Then I preached a long
sermon to my foolish eyes--they were misty with tears. Listen, I
said to them: 'You foolish things you have no reason to weep; you
should always look bright and dazzling, even if you never see Prince
Henry again. Really, the absence of the prince has been most
fortunate for you. You might have whispered all kinds of foolish
things to my weak heart. The prince is young, handsome, and amiable,
and it amuses him to win the love of fair ladies. Had you seen him
more frequently, it is possible he might have succeeded with poor