In the course of the revel the blind princess, _Adrea_, passes, led by an Egyptian named _Garda_, on her way to the temple, in which she is to be secluded, so that her presence at court may not trouble her sister _Julia_, whom the people of the kingdom detest. It is premised that in Arcady, where _Adrea_ had dwelt with her father, she had known and loved _Kaeso_, then one of the _King’s_ martial chieftains, and that he had sworn to marry her, but had proved faithless. Now, at the _Princess Julia’s_ festival, _Kaeso_ and _Adrea_ meet again, and _Kaeso_ kindly greets the blind girl. This enrages the _Princess Julia_, who thereupon commands him to declare to _Adrea_ that he does not love her, but loves her sister _Julia_. This cruelty he must commit, as the price of the kingdom. He submits; the imperious _Julia_ leads her train away; and he is left alone with _Adrea_, to whom he discloses himself, and who receives him with the deepest tenderness of faithful love. To her his presence can mean only that he has come to keep his oath by marrying her. _Kaeso_ forgets _Julia_, his ambitions--everything but the woman who has come into his arms. The watchful _Princess Julia_, apprised by a spy, the _Court Fool_,--_Mimus_, _the Echo_,--returns to see the lovers in their ecstasy of reconciliation, and she at once determines on a terrible revenge. _Kaeso_, seeing _Julia_, starts away from _Adrea_, and _Mimus_, who madly loves the blind princess, takes his place. This _Mimus_ happens to be in an armor like that of _Kaeso_, which he has put on in a frolic; and when _Adrea_ reaches to find _Kaeso_ her hands touch _Mimus_, and she eagerly claims him, believing him to be her plighted lover. “And you shall marry him!” says the _Princess Julia_; grimly adding, as a response to _Kaeso’s_ look of horror: “It is the price of Adrea!”