have wit
enough to rule them it is enough for me; and as for beauty, the less the
better in the eyes of other men for her whom my descendants shall claim
with pride as mother of the Aldobrandini."

II

THE ORDEAL

One maiden trimly girt
Bore in her gleaming upheld skirt
Fair silken balls sewed round with gold;
Which when the others did behold
Men cast their mantles unto earth,
And maids within their raiment's girth
Drew up their gown skirts, loosening here
Some button on their bosoms dear
Or slender wrists, then making tight
The laces round their ankles light;
For folk were wont within that land
To cast the ball from hand to hand,
Dancing meanwhile full orderly.
Lovely to look on was the sway
Of the slim maidens neath the ball
As they swung back to note its fall
With dainty balanced feet; and fair
The bright out-flowing, golden hair,
As swiftly yet in measured wise
One maid ran forth to gain the prize;
Eyes glittered and young cheeks glowed bright
And gold-shod feet, round limb and light,
Gleamed from beneath the girded gown
That, unrebuked, untouched was thrown
Hither and thither by the breeze;
Shrill laughter smote the thick-leaved trees,
Till they, for very breathlessness,
With rest the trodden daisies bless.

WILLIAM MORRIS.

Cold and calculating, nay coarse also seemed the motives of Aldobrandino
to Richard as he pondered them. "Not so," thought he, "would I set about
the choosing of my wife--as it were the purchase of a brood-mare." Still
more his soul revolted at this low animalism when that afternoon he for
the first time beheld sweet Sancie playing at ball with her sisters in
the pleasance of the palace of Aries.

The game was set to music, the measured beating of a tambour with the
light chiming of silver bells. Some said that Marguerite was most regal;
so stately she moved to the rhythm of the dance, that one might have
fancied that the glorious statue of the Venus of Arles had descended
from her ancient shrine to tread a measure with her maidens. But Eleanor
danced with more vivacity and passion. You would have thought her of
Spanish blood as she leapt and whirled, catching the ball with the lithe
ferocity of a panther. For Beatrice, Richard had no eyes, for as he
watched Sancie, he knew what her three kingly brothers-in-law had meant
when each could name only his own heart's dearest as her superior. He
saw, too, why Aldobrandino