72 LA PELEGRINA.
sent
to Spain, and what was the amazement of the court to see the shy young
king, who could scarcely look a woman in the face, fall violently in
love with this portrait. He kept it always beside him and was observed
frequently to address the tenderest expressions to it.
Such
being the satisfactory state of the King's feelings the match was
rapidly concluded, and Marie Louise set out from Versailles to go to
her unknown husband. On his side Charles II. went forward to meet her
as far as Burgos, and there they first saw each other in 1679. When the
King was unexpectedly announced, Mademoiselle was observed to blush
and look agitated which made her all the prettier. As Charles entered
her apartment she advanced in order to kneel at his feet, but the
Boy-King caught her by both arms and gazing at her with delight cried,
" My Queen, my Queen ! "
Although
she arrived in Madrid in the autumn of 1679, the young Queen did not
make her state-entry into her capital until the following
