on the notary a petrifying glance.

The morning of the 20th of August was fine and calm--the irony of nature
contrasting cruelly with the fate of mankind. From break of day masters
and valets, pages and knights, princes and courtiers, all were on
foot; cries of joy were heard on every side when the queen arrived on
a snow-white horse, at the head of the young and brilliant throng. Joan
was perhaps paler than usual, but that might be because she had been
obliged to rise very early. Andre, mounted on one of the most fiery of
all the steeds he had tamed, galloped beside his wife, noble and proud,
happy in his own powers, his youth, and the thousand gilded hopes that a
brilliant future seemed to offer. Never had the court of Naples shown
so brave an aspect: every feeling of distrust and hatred seemed entirely
forgotten; Friar Robert himself, suspicious as he was by nature, when he
saw the joyous cavalcade go by under his window, looked out with pride,
and stroking his beard, laughed at his own seriousness.

Andre's intention was to spend several days hunting between Capua and
Aversa, and only to return to Naples when all was in readiness for his
coronation. Thus the first day they hunted round about Melito, and went
through two or three villages in the land of Labore. Towards evening
the court stopped at Aversa, with a view to passing the night there,
and since at that period there was no castle in the place worthy of
entertaining the queen with her husband and numerous court, the convent
of St. Peter's at Majella was converted into a royal residence: this
convent had been built by Charles II in the year of our Lord 1309.

While the grand seneschal was giving orders for supper and the
preparation of a room for Andre and his wife, the prince, who during
the whole day had abandoned himself entirely to his favourite amusement,
went up on the terrace to enjoy the evening air, accompanied by the good
Isolda, his beloved nurse, who loved him more even than his mother, and
would not leave his side for a moment. Never had the prince appeared so
animated and happy: he was in ecstasies over the beauty of the country,
the clear air, the scent of the trees around; he besieged his nurse with
a thousand queries, never waiting for an answer; and they were indeed
long in coming, for poor Isolda was gazing upon him with that appearance
of fascination which makes a mother absent-minded when her child is
talking: Andre was eagerly telling he