ther?
So, hastily stripping off the armour belonging to the Greek prince, he
left the tent unseen, and, catching sight of Frontino grazing quietly
among some trees, sprang quickly on his back and plunged into the
forest.

'Let death come soon,' he said to himself, 'since life is worthless.'

Meanwhile the court in Paris rang with the name of Leo the prince, and
duke Aymon informed his daughter that the marriage feast need no longer
be postponed. But to this Bradamante turned a deaf ear.

'I will wed none but Roger,' she cried, and though her parents taunted
her with her broken vow, and threatened her with the wrath of the
emperor, she would give no other answer.

'I can always die,' she thought to herself.

The court was all confusion and perplexity; the emperor loved
Bradamante, but he did not wish to offend either her powerful father or
the still more powerful Constantine. The test had been proposed by
Bradamante herself, and how could he give permission that she should
break her plighted word?

It was Melissa who once more set this tangle straight. She appeared to
Leo, who was standing idly at his tent door, and told him that Roger was
dying in the depths of the forest. The prince, who had grieved sorely
for the loss of his friend, heard eagerly her tale, and consented gladly
to go with her to seek him.

The Roger whom they found at last was very different from the Roger who
had entered the lists but three days agone. His face was pale, his hair
was damp, his clothes hung loosely on his body. Leo's heart smote him as
he gazed, and, sinking on his knees beside Roger, he pulled his hands
gently down from his face.

It was not long before he had drawn out from the young knight the secret
which Roger had hidden so carefully when he had thought that honour and
gratitude demanded it. Leo listened in amaze and took shame to himself
that he had never guessed it sooner.

'Oh, Roger,' he cried, when at length the tale was ended, 'sooner would
I give up a thousand Bradamantes and all I possess in the world than
lose a friend so noble and generous as you. So rise quickly and let us
hasten back to where Bradamante awaits us.'

And so the prophecy was fulfilled in the end, and everyone was made
happy. Yes, even duke Aymon and his wife Beatrice; for before the
wedding rejoicings were begun an embassy arrived from the Bulgarian
people, begging leave from the emperor Charlemagne to offer their crown
to his vassal Roger.