And when Blanka knelt in prayer before a statue of the Madonna, he withdrew respectfully to a distance.
It was an earnest petition she offered before the blessed Virgin, a prayer for rescue from her enemies, and for strength to resist every temptation.

And she knew not that her rescuer and her tempter were one and the same person, and that he stood there behind her at that very moment.
Of a highly impressionable temperament, and fresh from her convent life, the princess was so moved by the sacred emblems about her, and by their holy associations, that she could not conceive of any one's viewing these objects with less of awe and reverence than herself.

And when her conductor recounted the legend of the sacred lance in the chapel of St.
Veronica,--how the Roman lictor Longinus had pierced the Saviour's side with this lance, and been himself struck blind the same instant, but had immediately recovered his sight when he rubbed his eyes with the hand on which four drops of the Redeemer's blood had fallen,--Blanka could not but ask herself whether another such miracle might not be wrought, and another blind man be restored to sight.

She dreamed of this miracle that night, and made a vow to the Virgin that in case of her deliverance from her present difficulties, she would show her gratitude by presenting the Madonna with a jewel more precious than any that adorned her crown: she would offer this young man himself, who now refused to worship at her shrine.

The princess felt herself rich enough to buy this jewel for her offering.