Page 44 - Princess Belle-Etoile and Prince Cherie

was anxious to complete.
He read, therefore, the above story, and it was
not without much emotion that he discovered
in it a perfect description of all his feelings.
Belle-Etoile was not less surprised. It seemed
as though the author had read all that was
passing in her soul. The more Cheri read the
more he was agitated. The more the Princess

listened, the more was she affected. Despite of
all her efforts her eyes filled with tears, and
they ran down her cheeks. Cheri, also,
struggled in vain against his feelings. He
turned pale, his voice faltered. Each of them
suffered all that can be imagined under such
circumstances. "Ah, sister," he exclaimed,

gazing on her sadly and dropping the book,
"how happy was Hippolyte in not being the
brother of Julie!" "We are not so fortunate,"
replied she; "alas, do we less deserve to be
so?" As she uttered these words, she felt she
had said too much. She stopped in great
confusion, and if anything could have crushed
the Prince, it was the state in which he saw
her.

From that moment, they both fell into a
profound melancholy, without further
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