ive, whose deep
perfection made all hearts wish to serve her." The king said,
"Praising what is lost makes the remembrance dear. Well--call him
hither;" meaning Bertram, who now presented himself before the king:
and, on his expressing deep sorrow for the injuries he had done to
Helena, the king, for his dead father's and his admirable mother's
sake, pardoned him, and restored him once more to his favour. But the
gracious countenance of the king was soon changed towards him, for he
perceived that Bertram wore the very ring upon his finger which he had
given to Helena; and he well remembered that Helena had called all
the saints in heaven to witness she would never part with that ring,
unless she sent it to the king himself upon some great disaster
befalling her; and Bertram, on the king's questioning him how he came
by the ring, told an improbable story of a lady throwing it to him out
of a window, and denied ever having seen Helena since the day of their
marriage. The king, knowing Bertram's dislike to his wife, feared he
had destroyed her; and he ordered his guards to seize Bertram, saying,
"I am wrapt in dismal thinking, for I fear the life of Helena was
foully snatched." At this moment Diana and her mother entered, and
presented a petition to the king, wherein they begged his majesty to
exert his royal power to compel Bertram to marry Diana, he having made
her a solemn promise of marriage. Bertram, fearing the king's anger,
denied he had made any such promise, and then Diana produced the ring
(which Helena had put into her hands) to confirm the truth of her
words; and she said that she had given Bertram the ring he then wore,
in exchange for that, at the time he vowed to marry her. On hearing
this, the king ordered the guards to seize her also; and her account
of the ring differing from Bertram's, the king's suspicions were
confirmed; and he said, if they did not confess how they came by this
ring of Helena's, they should be both put to death. Diana requested
her mother might be permitted to fetch the jeweller of whom she bought
the ring, which being granted, the widow went out, and presently
returned leading in Helena herself.

The good countess, who in silent grief had beheld her son's danger,
and had even dreaded that the suspicion of his having destroyed his
wife might possibly be true, finding her dear Helena, whom she loved
with even a maternal affection, was still living, felt a delight she
was hardly able t