Page 135 - Princess Belle-Etoile and Prince Cherie

same attempt were in the same state. To look
at each other was the only thing permitted
them.
The time seemed so long to Belle-Etoile, and
still no signs of her beloved Cheri, that she fell
dangerously ill. The physicians saw plainly that
she was being destroyed by a deep
melancholy; her brothers loved her dearly;

they asked her the reason of her illness; she
acknowledged that she reproached herself
night and day, with being the cause of Cheri's
absence, and that she felt she should die if she
did not hear some tidings of him. They were
affected by her tears; and in the hopes of
curing her, Petit-Soleil resolved to seek his

brother.
The Prince set out; he ascertained where this
famed bird was to be found; he flew there; he
saw it—he approached it, with the same hopes
as the others had done—at the same moment
was swallowed up by the rock; he fell into the
great hall; the first person he saw was Cheri,
but he could not speak to him.
Belle-Etoile recovered her health a little; each

moment she hoped to see her two brothers
return, but her hopes disappointed, her
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