lies;--my
affections are fixed where my dear parents graft them--on the noble, the
princely, the polite Barbazure. 'Tis true he is not comely in feature,
but the chaste and well-bred female knows how to despise the fleeting
charms of form. 'Tis true he is old; but can woman be better employed
than in tending her aged and sickly companion? That he has been married
is likewise certain--but ah, my mother! who knows not that he must be a
good and tender husband, who, nine times wedded, owns that, he cannot be
happy without another partner?"

It was with these admirable sentiments the lovely Fatima proposed
obedience to her parents' will, and consented to receive the magnificent
marriage-gift presented to her by her gallant bridegroom.

III.

The old Countess of Chacabacque had made a score of vain attempts to see
her hapless daughter. Ever, when she came, the porters grinned at her
savagely through the grating of the portcullis of the vast embattled
gate of the Castle of Barbazure, and rudely bade her begone. "The Lady
of Barbazure sees nobody but her confessor, and keeps her chamber," was
the invariable reply of the dogged functionaries to the entreaties of
the agonized mother. And at length, so furious was he at her perpetual
calls at his gate, that the angry Lord of Barbazure himself, who chanced
to be at the postern, armed a cross-bow, and let fly an arblast at the
crupper of the lady's palfrey, whereon she fled finally, screaming, and
in terror. "I will aim at the rider next time!" howled the ferocious
baron, "and not at the horse!" And those who knew his savage nature and
his unrivalled skill as a bowman, knew that he would neither break his
knightly promise nor miss his aim.

Since the fatal day when the Grand Duke of Burgundy gave his famous
passage of arms at Nantes, and all the nobles of France were present at
the joustings, it was remarked that the Barbazure's heart was changed
towards his gentle and virtuous lady.

For the three first days of that famous festival, the redoubted Baron
of Barbazure had kept the field against all the knights who entered.
His lance bore everything down before it. The most famous champions of
Europe, assembled at these joustings, had dropped, one by one, before
this tremendous warrior. The prize of the tourney was destined to be
his, and he was to be proclaimed bravest of the brave, as his lady was
the fairest of the fair.

On the third day, however, as the sun was declini