at he had no need to search through the town; and she added
that in her opinion the gentleman was speaking of his own authority, and
without his master's command.

When the young Prince received this reply, love, which becomes the
more eager the more it meets with resistance, caused him to pursue his
enterprise more hotly than before, and to write her a letter in which he
begged that she would believe all the gentleman had told her.

Being well able to read and write, she read the letter through, but, in
spite of all the gentleman's entreaties, she would never send an answer
to it. It was not for one of such low degree, she said, to write to so
noble a Prince, and she begged the gentleman not to deem her foolish
enough to believe that the Prince had so much love for her. Moreover, he
was deceived if he thought that he could have her at his will by reason
of her humble condition; for her heart was as virtuous as that of the
greatest Princess in Christendom, and she looked upon all the treasures
in the world as naught in comparison with honour and a good conscience.
She therefore entreated him not to try to hinder her from keeping these
treasures safe her whole life long, for she would never change her mind
even were she threatened with death.

The young Prince did not find this reply to his liking, nevertheless he
loved her dearly for it, and never failed to have his chair set in the
church to which she went to hear mass, where, during the service, he
would ever turn his eyes upon the same image. When she perceived this,
she changed her place and went to another chapel--not indeed to flee the
sight of him, for she would not have been a reasonable being had she not
found pleasure in beholding him--but because she dreaded to be seen by
him. She did not deem herself worthy to be loved by him in honour or
marriage, and, on the other hand, she would not be loved wantonly and
for pleasure. When she found that, in whatever part of the church she
placed herself, the Prince heard mass close by, she would no longer
go to the same church, but repaired every day to the remotest that she
could find. And when there was feasting at the castle, although the
Prince's sister often sent for her, she would no longer go thither, but
excused herself on the plea of sickness.

Finding that he could not have speech with her, the Prince had
recourse to his butler, and promised him great rewards if he would lend
assistance in the matter. This t