Oldal 237 [237]
KING BIZARRE AND PRINCE CHARMING
angelic smile stole over her features, at the sight of which
he wept like a child.
XI
A WIFE SHOULD OBEY HER HUSBAND
The countess was right (women are always right—past
sixty). A fortnight of happiness set Pazza on her feet
again, and enabled her to make a triumphant entry into
the city with the king, her husband. Her paleness, and
her wounded arm, which she carried in a sling, added to her
grace and beauty. Charming had eyes for no one but the
queen, and the peoples looks followed the king’s.
They were more than an hour in reaching the castle.
The magistrates had erected not less than three triumphal
arches, Írowning fortresses, defended each by thirty-six
deputations and thirty-six speeches. The first arch, made
of trellis-work, and adorned with leaves and flowers, bore
the inscription,
TO THE MOST TENDER AND FAITHFUL OF HUSBANDS
This was intrusted to the keeping of five or six thousand
young girls, dressed in white, with pink ribbons, representing
the spring of the year, the hope of the future, welcoming
Glory and Beauty.
The second arch, more solidly built, was a frame covered
195