Indeed, his admiration of
her was so plain, that the queen and Troutina begged of the king that
she might be shut up in a tower during the whole time of his visit;
so, as soon as she had returned to her apartment, four men in masks
entered, and carried her off, leaving her in a dark cell, and in the
utmost desolation.
Meantime King Charming eagerly awaited her re-appearance, but he saw
her no more; and by the queen's orders, every one about him spoke all
the evil they could of poor Florina, but he refused to believe one
word. "No," said he, "nature could not have united a base nature to
such a sweet innocent face. I will rather suppose that she is
maligned by her stepmother and by Troutina, who is so ugly herself
that no wonder she bears envy towards the fairest woman in the world."
Meanwhile Florina, shut up in her tower, lamented bitterly. "Ah, would
I had been sent here before I saw this amiable prince, who was so kind
to me! It is to prevent my meeting him again, that the queen treats me
so cruelly. Alas! the little beauty I have has cost me sore!"
The queen, to win King Charming for her daughter, made him many
presents; among the rest an order of knighthood, a golden heart,
enamelled in flame-colour, surrounded with many arrows, but pierced by
one only, the motto being, "_She alone_." The heart was made of a
single ruby, as big as an ostrich's egg.
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