sed the queen; Joan only, with that
wonderful presence of mind she was destined to preserve in the most
difficult crises of her future life, thrust the young man against the
carved back of her bed, and concealed him completely beneath the ample
curtain: she then signed to Cancha to go forward and meet the governess
and her son.

But before we conduct into the queen's room these two persons, whom our
readers may remember in Joan's train about the bed of King Robert, we
must relate the circumstances which had caused the family of the Catanese
to rise with incredible rapidity from the lowest class of the people to
the highest rank at court. When Dona Violante of Aragon, first wife of
Robert of Anjou, became the mother of Charles, who was later on the Duke
of Calabria, a nurse was sought for the infant among the most handsome
women of the people. After inspecting many women of equal merit as
regards beauty, youth and health, the princess's choice lighted on
Philippa, a young Catanese woman, the wife of a fisherman of Trapani,
and by condition a laundress. This young woman, as she washed her linen
on the bank of a stream, had dreamed strange dreams: she had fancied
herself summoned to court, wedded to a great personage, and receiving the
honours of a great lady. Thus when she was called to Castel Nuovo her
joy was great, for she felt that her dreams now began to be realised.
Philippa was installed at the court, and a few months after she began to
nurse the child the fisherman was dead and she was a widow. Meanwhile
Raymond of Cabane, the major-domo of King Charles II's house, had bought
a negro from some corsairs, and having had him baptized by his own name,
had given him his liberty; afterwards observing that he was able and
intelligent, he had appointed him head cook in the king's kitchen; and
then he had gone away to the war. During the absence of his patron the
negro managed his own affairs at the court so cleverly, that in a short
time he was able to buy land, houses, farms, silver plate, and horses,
and could vie in riches with the best in the kingdom; and as he
constantly won higher favour in the royal family, he passed on from the
kitchen to the wardrobe. The Catanese had also deserved very well of her
employers, and as a reward for the care she had bestowed on the child,
the princess married her to the negro, and he, as a wedding gift, was
granted the title of knight.

From this day forward, Raymond of Cabane