"Above all, he began to lose his health and give way to despair; the physicians, who were sent for, could make nothing of his ailment, for they were ignorant of its cause. The state of the pulse does not show the grief of the heart, and it is difficult and nearly impossible to comprehend the ailments which spring from that source. The mother, seeing her son dying, without being able to discover what was killing him, asked him again and again to reveal the cause of his suffering, since it was impossible that he should be ignorant of it himself, as he felt the effects: so powerful were the persuasions, so great the solicitude of the afflicted mother, that she conquered the obstinacy, or rather the firmness, of Persiles, and forced him to confess that he was dying of love for Sigismunda, and that he was determined to die rather than sin against the duty which he owed his brother. This declaration restored the queen to life, and she bade Persiles hope, telling him that a remedy might be found, and that it would be quite possible to overlook the claims of Maximin, and greater considerations even than a brother's anger, might be waved to effect this object. Finally she went to Sigismunda herself, and told her of her son's wishes, exaggerating all she should lose if she lost Persiles, a creature in whom all the graces and all the virtues were united; whereas Maximin was much the reverse, for the harshness of his manners made him somewhat unpopular, and she cried up the merits of Persiles to the highest extent. "Sigismunda, who was very young, alone, and easily persuaded, replied that she had no will of her own, nor any counsellor but her own modesty; and so as she could preserve it, she left the queen to dispose of her as she pleased. The queen embraced her, and flew to carry her reply to Persiles. It was then agreed between them that they should absent themselves from the island before his brother returned, and as an excuse for their disappearance, she would say that they had made a vow to go to Rome, in order to get properly instructed in the Catholic faith, which was somewhat impaired in these northern countries, Persiles first having sworn that he would neither in word nor deed, offend against her modesty. So, loaded with jewels and advice, the queen dismissed them, and, when they were gone, she told me all that I have now related. "It was two years and rather more before the prince Maximin returned to his own dominions, for he was engaged in the war he was continually waging with his enemies.