he straightway submitted the
question to Charles of Anjou.

"Nay, they are both wrong," confidently declared that prince; "my
Beatrice is fairest, but Sancie is not far beneath her."

Then Richard laughed to himself: "Truly if the girl ranks but second
when compared with each of these her sisters, whose beauty I esteem not
at all, she is not worth the winning on my own behalf; and I am safe in
adventuring for the joy of the mere adventure."

But when Aldobrandino spake to him of her it was in other wise.
"Consider well," he said, "ere you undertake this business, for should
the beauty of Sancie drive you to such madness as to play me false then
of a surety I will kill you. Not in vain am I dubbed Atlas, for all
things upon earth which I desire I bear away upon my shoulders, and I
have sworn by the five wounds of God that she and she alone shall sit as
princess in my palace."

"'Tis a great oath," said Richard, "but you shall not be forsworn by me,
and verily I marvel that you have set your heart upon her if the opinion
of her brothers-in-law be credible." And with that he told the several
answers given to his questions.

Aldobrandino glowered upon him and grunted this reply: "You mind me of a
_stornello_ sung by our peasants:

"'Flower o' the peach,
Flowers for all fancies, his own love for each.'

"And verily," he added, "it is well that it is so, else should I have
had for rivals Louis and Henry and Charles, and perchance you also. The
flower o' the peach suits her well; she is but a homely little bloom o'
the kitchen garden beside her statelier rose and lily sisters. But, look
you, what use have I for such useless ornaments as your waxy-pale
lilies, your flaunting and fragile roses? What fruit bear they, I ask?
Why, pips and briars. Whereas the peach is a stocky tree, prolific and
profitable to its owner, for to its unadmired and modest blossom
succeedeth a toothsome fruitage. Therefore say I the flower o' the peach
for me. For, hist, Ricciardo, I am past the age when one goes maying for
flowers only. Women have had no great power over me, and a bachelor I
should die but that I have regard for what shall happen after me, and a
natural desire for the continuance of my race upon their old estates. It
is not so much a wife that I seek as a mother for my children. I would
see many and goodly sons about me, strong of body, lusty in fight, such
as only a wholesome and sturdy woman can bear and rear. If she