s death,
to the convent of Jesus, and there took the veil_. (1)

1 This tale appears to be a combination of fact and fiction.
Although Queen Margaret states that she has changed the
names of the persons, and also of the places where the
incidents happened, several historical events are certainly
brought into the narrative, the scene of which is laid in
Spain during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. M. Le Roux
de Lincy is of opinion, however, that Margaret really refers
to some affair at the Court of Charles VIII. or Louis XII.,
and he remarks that there is great similarity between the
position of the Countess of Aranda, left a widow at an early
age with a son and a daughter, and that of Louise of Savoy
with her two children. M. Lacroix and M. Dillaye believe the
hero and heroine to be Admiral de Bonnivet and Margaret. It
has often been suspected that the latter regarded her
brother's favourite with affection until after the attempt
related in Tale IV.--Ed.

In the county of Aranda, (2) in Aragon, there lived a lady who, while
still very young, was left a widow, with a son and a daughter, by the
Count of Aranda, the name of the daughter being Florida. This lady
strove to bring up her children in all the virtues and qualities which
beseem lords and gentlemen, so that her house was reputed to be one of
the most honourable in all the Spains. She often went to Toledo, where
the King of Spain dwelt, and when she came to Saragossa, which was not
far from her house, she would remain a long while with the Queen and the
Court, by whom she was held in as high esteem as any lady could be.

2 Aranda, in the valley of the Duero, between Burgos
and Madrid, is one of the most ancient towns in Spain, but of
miserable aspect, although a large trade is carried on there
in cheap red wines. (Ferdinand and Isabella resided for some
time at Aranda.--Ed.)

Going one day, according to her custom, to visit the King, then at his
castle of La Jasserye, (3) at Saragossa, this lady passed through a
village belonging to the Viceroy of Catalonia, (4) who, by reason of the
great wars between the kings of France and Spain, had not been wont to
stir from the frontier at Perpignan. But for the time being there was
peace, so that the Viceroy and all his captains had come to do homage to
the King. The Viceroy, learning that the Countess of Arand