When the governor returned and saw this dreadful sight, he knew not what to think.  Yet, even then, he could not believe Constance was guilty.  He carried her before the king to be judged.  This king, Alla, was very tender and good, and when he saw Constance standing in the midst of the people, with her frightened eyes looking appealing from one to another like a wounded deer who is chased to its death, his heart was moved with pity.

The governor and all his people told how Constance had loved the murdered lady, and what holy words she had taught.  All except the real murderer, who kept declaring she was the guilty one, believed her innocent.

The king asked her, “Have you any champion who could fight for you?”

At this Constance, falling on her knees, cried out that she had no champion but God, and prayed that He would defend her innocence.

“Now,” cried the king, “bring the holy book which was brought from Brittany by my fathers, and let the knight swear upon it that the maiden is guilty.”

So they brought the book of the Gospels, and the knight kissed it, but as soon as he began to take the oath he was felled down as by a terrible blow, and his neck was found broken and his eyes burst from his head.  Before them all, in great agony, he died, confessing his guilt and the innocence of Constance.

King Alla had been much moved by the beauty of Constance and her innocent looks, and now she was proved guiltless, all his heart went out to her.  And when he asked her to become his queen she gladly consented, for she loved him because he had pitied and helped her.  They were soon married amidst the great rejoicing of the people, and the king and all the land became converted to the Christian faith.

This king also had a mother, named Donegilde, an old heatheness, no less cruel than the mother of the Soldan.  She hated Constance because she had been made queen though for fear of her son’s wrath she dared not molest her.

After his honeymoon, King Alla went northward to do battle with the Scots, who were his foemen, leaving his wife in charge of a bishop and the good governor, the husband of the murdered Hennegilde.  While he was absent heaven sent Constance a beautiful little son, whom she named Maurice.

As soon as the babe was born, the governor sent a messenger to the king with a letter telling him of his good fortune.  Now it happened this messenger was a courtier, who wished to keep on good terms with all the royal family.  So, as soon as he got the letter, he went to Donegilde, the king’s mother, and asked her if she had any message to send her son.

Donegilde was very courteous and begged him to wait till next morning, while she got her message ready.  She plied the man with wine and strong liquor till evening, when he slept so fast that nothing could wake him.  While he was asleep she opened his letters and read all that the governor had written.  Then this wicked old woman wrote to Alla that his wife Constance was a witch who had bewitched him and all his people, but now her true character became plain, and she had given birth to a horrible, fiend-like creature, who, she said, was his son.  This she put in place of the governor’s letter, and dispatched the messenger at dawn.