had become
plain, would rather have had her remain among them, having no longer
reason to envy her beauty, and being willing to enjoy her society for
the sake of her good qualities of mind and disposition. The queen
embraced the three, and took leave of them, commending them to good
fortune and to the master of the vessel, and asking Isabella to inform
her of her arrival in Spain, and of her health at all times through the
French merchant. That evening they embarked, not without tears on the
part of Clotald, his wife, and his whole household, by whom Isabella was
exceedingly beloved. Richard was not present at the departure, for, in
order to avoid betraying his feelings, he had gone with some of his
friends to the chase.

Many were the dainties which the lady Catherine gave. Isabella for use
on the voyage; endless were her embraces, her tears, and her injunctions
that she should write to her; for all which Isabella and her parents
returned suitable thanks. That night the vessel set sail, and having
reached France with a fair wind, and obtained the necessary papers to
enable them to enter Spain, they crossed the bar of Cadiz thirty days
afterwards, and there Isabella and her parents disembarked. Being known
to the whole city, they were joyfully welcomed, and warmly congratulated
on their recovery of Isabella, and on their liberation, from their
Turkish captors (for that fact had been made known by the captives whom
Richard generously released), and also from detention in England. By
this time Isabella began to give great hopes that she would quite
recover her original beauty.

For more than a month they remained in Cadiz, recruiting themselves
after the toils of their voyage; and then they went to Seville, to see
if they should obtain payment of the ten thousand crowns upon the French
merchant's bill. Two days after their arrival they called upon the
person on whom it was drawn. He acknowledged it, but said that, until
the arrival of advices from Paris, he could not pay the money.
Isabella's father hired a large house facing St. Paul's, because there
was in that holy convent a nun who was remarkable for rare musical
talents, and who was his own niece. They chose the house to be near her
for that reason, and because Isabella had told Richard that if he came
to look for her he would find her in Seville, and her cousin, the nun of
St. Paula's, would tell him where: he had only to ask for the nun who
had the best voice in