"Rubbish, madam! Why, such rubbish would buy my whole kingdom."
"It is yours, sire," replied the duchess, "if you will make me your queen."
The king, who was a great lover of money, replied eagerly, "Certainly, madam, I'll marry you to-morrow if you will."
Grognon, highly delighted, made but one other condition—that she should have the Princess Graciosa entirely in her own rule and power, just as if she had been her real mother; to which the foolish king consented, for he thought much more of riches than he did of his child. So he and Grognon departed hand in hand out of the cave, very well pleased.
When the king returned home, Graciosa ran out with joy to welcome her father, and asked him if he had had good sport in his hunting.
"Yes, my child," said he, "for I have taken a dove alive."
"Oh, give it me, and I will nourish and cherish it," cried the princess.
"That is impossible; for it is the Duchess Grognon, whom I have promised to marry."
"She a dove!—she is rather a hawk," sighed the princess in despair; but her father bade her hold her tongue, and promise to love her stepmother, who would have over her all the authority of a mother, and to whom he wished to present her that very day.
The obedient princess went to her apartment, where her nurse soon found out the sorrow in her face, and its cause.