The delicate _Agnes_ little expected to hear what the Princess told her: Thunder would have less surpriz’d, and less oppres’d her. She remain’d a long time without speaking; but at last, fixing her Looks all frightful on _Constantia_, ‘What say you, Madam? (_cry’d she_) And what Thoughts have you of me? What, that I should betray you? And coming hither only full of Ardor to be the Repose of your Life, do I bring a fatal Poison to afflict it? What Detestation must I have for the Beauty they find in me, without aspiring to make it appear? And how ought I to curse the unfortunate Day, on which I first saw the Prince?--But, Madam, it cannot be me whom Heaven has chosen to torment you, and to destroy all your Tranquillity: No, it cannot be so much my Enemy, to put me to so great a Tryal. And if I were that odious Person, there is no Punishment, to which I would not condemn my self. It is _Elvira_, Madam, the Prince loves, and loved before his Marriage with you, and also before his Divorce from _Bianca_; and somebody has made an indiscreet Report to you of this Intrigue of his Youth: But, Madam, what was in the time of _Bianca_, is nothing to you. It is certain that _Don Pedro_ loves you, (_answer’d the Princess_) and I have Vanity enough to believe, that, none besides your self could have disputed his Heart with me: But the Secret is discover’d, and _Don Pedro_ has not disown’d it. What, (_interrupted +Agnes+, more surpriz’d than ever_) is it then from himself you have learned his Weakness?’ The Princess then shew’d her the Verses, and there was never any Despair like to hers. While they were both thus sadly employ’d, both sighing, and both weeping, the impatient _Elvira_, who was willing to learn the Effect of her Malice, returned to the Apartment of the Princess, where she freely enter’d; even to the Cabinet where these unhappy Persons were: who all afflicted and troubled as they were, blushed at her approach, whose Company they did not desire: She had the Pleasure to see _Constantia_ hide from her the Paper which had been the Cause of all their Trouble, and which the Princess had never seen, but for her Spite and Revenge; and to observe also in the Eyes of the Princess, and those of _Agnes_, an immoderate Grief: She staid in the Cabinet as long as it was necessary to be assur’d, that she had succeeded in her Design; but the Princess, who did not desire such a Witness of the Disorder in which she then was, pray’d to be left alone. _Elvira_ then went out of the Cabinet, and _Agnes de Castro_ withdrew at the same time.