Page 5 - Princess Belle-Etoile and Prince Cherie

nce upon a time there was a Princess,
of whose past grandeur nothing remained but
her canopy and her cadenas. The one was of
velvet, embroidered with pearls, the other of
gold, enriched with diamonds. She kept them

as long as she could; but the extreme necessity
to which she found herself reduced obliged
her, every now and then, to take off a pearl, a
diamond, or an emerald, and sell it privately
for the support of her attendants. She was a
widow, left with three daughters very young,
and very amiable. She considered, that if she
brought them up with the grandeur and
magnificence befitting their birth, they would

feel the inevitable alteration in their
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