As he
could not receive an answer to one inquiry without the other, he
heard at length a general account with much sorrow, waiting till he
could learn more from his mother, the princess's nurse.
Although the nurse, mother to Marzavan, was very much taken up with
the princess, she no sooner heard that her dear son had returned
than she found time to come out, embrace him, and converse with him
a little. Having told him, with tears in her eyes, what a sad
condition the princess was in, and for what reason the king her
father had shut her up, he desired to know of his mother if she
could not procure him a private sight of her royal mistress,
without the king's knowing it. After some pause, she told him she
could say nothing for the present, but if he would meet her the
next day at the same hour, she would give him an answer.
The nurse knowing that none could approach the princess but herself
without leave of the officer who commanded the guard at the gate,
addressed herself to him, who she knew had been so lately appointed
that he could know nothing of what had passed at the court of
China. 'You know,' said she to him, 'I have brought up the
princess, and you may likewise have heard that I had a daughter
whom I brought up along with her.
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