ndeed, the betrothal of Richard with Alice still remained nominally
in force, and a serious difficulty was to be apprehended with Philip
so soon as the new plans which Richard had formed should be announced
to him.

Eleanora said that she could not remain long in Italy, but must return
to Normandy very soon, without waiting for Richard to prepare the way
for receiving his bride. So she left Berengaria under the charge of
Joanna, who, being her own--that is, Eleanora's--daughter, was a very
proper person to be the young lady's protector. Joanna and Berengaria
immediately conceived a strong attachment for each other, and they
lived together in a very happy manner. Joanna was glad to have for a
companion so charming a young lady, and one of so high a rank, and
Berengaria, on the other hand, was much pleased to be placed under the
charge of so kind a protector. Joanna, too, having long lived in
Sicily, could give Berengaria a great deal of interesting intelligence
about the country and the people, and could answer all the thousand
questions which she asked about what she heard and saw in the new
world, as it were, into which she had been ushered.

The two ladies lived, of course, in very close seclusion, but they
lived so lovingly together that one of the writers of the day, in a
ballad that he wrote, compared them to two birds in a cage. Speaking
of Eleanora, he says, in the quaint old English of the day,

"She beleft Berengere
At Richard's costage.
Queen Joanne held her dear;
They lived as doves in a cage."

The arrival of Berengaria at Brindisi took place in the spring of the
year, when the time was drawing nigh for the fleets and armaments to
sail for the East. As yet, Philip knew nothing of Richard's plans in
respect to this new marriage, but the time had now arrived when
Richard perceived that they could no longer be concealed. Philip
entertained suspicions that something wrong was going on, though he
did not know exactly what. His suspicions made him watchful and
jealous, and at last they led to a curious train of circumstances,
which brought matters to a crisis very suddenly.

It seems that at one time, when Richard was paying a visit to Tancred,
the King of Sicily, Tancred showed him a letter which he said he had
received from the French king. In this letter, Philip--if, indeed,
Philip really wrote it--endeavored to excite Tancred's enmity against
Richard. It was just after the treaty bet