believe him, she was afraid of being deceived, and that forming his opinion of her from appearances, he only sought to amuse himself by dazzling her with professions which would not be seriously addressed to a poor shepherdess. Nettled by this idea, her pride restored her composure, and she received the assurances of his affection with so much coldness, that it confirmed all his suspicions.
"Your heart is gone!" said he; "another has succeeded in charming you. But I call the gods to witness, that if I can discover him, he shall feel the full effects of my wrath!" "I ask no favour for any one, my Lord," she replied. "If you should ever know my sentiments, you will find they are far different from those you attribute to me." The Prince at these words felt his hopes revive, but they were soon destroyed by the conversation that followed; for she protested to him, that her indifference was not to be overcome, and that she felt convinced she should never love any one. These last words cast him into inexpressible grief; he exercised the greatest constraint over himself to prevent her observing the extent of his affliction. Either from the violence he thus did to his feelings, or from the excess of his passion, which was only increased by the obstacles which presented themselves to it, he fell so dangerously ill that the physicians, not knowing the cause of his disorder, soon began to despair of his recovery. Mirtain, who by his orders still remained in attendance on Constancia, communicated to her the sad tidings. She listened to them with a confusion and agitation difficult to describe. "Do you know any remedy," he asked her, "for fever, and violent pains in the head and heart?" "I know one," she replied; "it consists of simples and flowers; but everything depends on the manner in which they are applied." "Will you not go to the palace and apply them yourself?" added Mirtain. "No;" said she, blushing, "I should be too much afraid of not succeeding." "How!" continued he; "is it possible you will neglect anything that might restore him to us? I believed you to be very hard-hearted; but you are a hundred times more so than I had imagined." Mirtain's reproaches gratified Constancia. She was delighted to be pressed by him to see the Prince. It was only to obtain that satisfaction that she had boasted of being acquainted with a remedy for his complaint; for the truth is, that she knew of none.
