The brooch was a small painting called a miniature. It was the likeness of young Prince Alfonso, the brother of Queen Isabella of Spain.
Pilar hurried off to bed. And while she sleeps, let us listen to the "Mystery of the Young Prince."
THE MYSTERY OF THE YOUNG PRINCE
Alfonso was only a boy. But some day he would be king, for he was next in line to his brother, King Henry. After him came his sister, Isabella, a beautiful little girl, earnest and thoughtful.
Alfonso felt himself to be Isabella's knight and protector. He had learned to ride and to use his sword like a true Spanish cavalier.
One day at twilight Isabella sat at the window, embroidering a Moorish design upon a bit of gold cloth. Alfonso, his studies over for the day, was reading to her.
Better than anything else, the Prince loved to read—which may have been the reason for what happened later—at least, for what is supposed to have happened. For nobody rightly knows the truth of the bitter story.