Stranica 198 [198]
LABOULAYE’S FAIRY BOOK
factor, but they were the only mourners. Without being
a bad son, Charming was engrossed with the cares of the
empire; and the court expected everything from the new
reign, and thought no more about the old king, whose
eyes were closed in death.
After honoring his father’s memory by magnificent
obsequies, the young prince, thenceforth wholly devoted to
love, celebrated his marriage with a splendor that charmed
the good people of Wild Oats. The taxes were doubled,
but who could regret money so nobly employed? Men
came from a hundred leagues round to gaze at the new
king, and Pazza, whose growing beauty and air of goodness
fascinated all hearts, was not less admired. ‘There were
interminable dinners, harangues longer than the dinners,
and poems more tedious than the harangues. In a word,
it was an incomparable festival, which was talked of for
six months after.
Evening come, Charming took the hand of his graceful,
timid, and blushing bride, and with cold politeness led her
through the corridors of the old castle. All at once Pazza
was frightened to find herself in a gloomy dungeon, with
grated windows and huge bars and locks.
“What is this?” asked she. “It looks like a prison."
"Ves," said the prince, with a terrible look, “it is a prison
which you will quit only for the grave.”
“My dear, you frighten me,” said Pazza, smiling. "Am
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