THE PANELLED HOUSE. Te

“<¢ At least,’ said the hermit, ‘you will resist the
Mist King’s endeavours to draw you to the alder-
pool, when you know that Sir Gradlon is toiling to
effect your deliverance.’

«J will,’ said Esylt.

‘Sir Gradlon would fain have wedded her there
and then ; but Esylt said that never would she wed
mortal man while she was the Mist King’s slave:
‘and the hermit commended her for her resolve.
So they built her a hut on the hill-side, and the
hermit brought her food daily ; and Sir Gradlon
went and forged himself a tool, heavy and well
tempered, and then went up the Dragon’s Crag to
hew it down.

“Esylt watched him day after day, and heard
the strokes of his tool ring upon the hard rock ;
and winter passed into spring and spring into
summer, and yet his work was not done, though
the platform of rock had been narrowed into a
pillar, so slender that it seemed that hardly it could
bear the weight of the great boulder. At last, one
sultry day, when the thunder-clouds lay heavy on
the mountains, Esylt heard that the strokes of his
tool were silent ; and straining her eyes to see, she
beheld him lying under the overhanging boulder
asleep, while a thin thread of yellow mist from the
dark pool showed her that the Mist King had
enchanted him into a heavy slumber, which might
be his death.

“Nor was this all. Watching still, Esylt saw
that a band of goblins, with soundless axes that
made no noise, were hewing artfully at the pillar of
rock, so that it might fall away from the alder-pool,
and upon the sleeping knight, so as to crush him in
its fall. The rock was well nigh hewn through:
a few more minutes, and Sir Gradlon would be
lost.

“Then Esylt felt a wild daring in her heart.
She heeded not that the nearest way to the Dragon’s
Crag lay through the alder-thicket : but heedless
of danger, or of the Mist King, she girded her robe
about her, and sped through the fen. The goblins
of the pool sought to terrify her with their ugly
faces, but her eye was fixed on the Dragon’s Crag,
and she saw them not. They caught at her gown
and rent it, but Esylt thought it was only the
thorns and briers of the road. The Mist King
thundered out threats and menaces as she passed
the pool, but Esylt thought it was but thunder from
the sulphurous blue clouds that hung over the
yalley. In her love for Gradlon no other thought
could find place in her heart: and so, without
knowing it, Esylt had dared the Mist King in his
stronghold.

“One moment more, and she had awaked him
from his enchanted slumber, and the goblins fled
away. Then taking up his trusty axe, he dealt
three mighty blows with it on the rocky pillar: and

‘story received: and the details were thoroughly

while it rocked and tottered, he withdrew with
Esylt as far as he might. There was a mighty
thunderpeal: the boulder swung downward, and
buried itself deep in the alder-pool, leaving them
unhurt, but destroying the stronghold of the Mist
King forever. In that sulphurous thunder-peal he
and his goblins fled away, and troubled that land
no more.

“Then, as Esylt and Gradlon stood together,
bewildered with their great gladness, a song like
the song of a bird rang out over-head: but as they
listened, they heard human words, and knew that
it was the spirit of her who had sung the song of
the bird of Glastonbury, and died to save her babe.
And these were the words they heard :—

Night’s shadows are breaking
Before the rising sun :
Death is but the waking
After the dream is done.
Doubt and despair are fled
Like clouds in the morning clear :
Joy for the living and rest for the dead,
For Love can cast out Fear!”

“My dear,” said Aunt Hermy, “you tell the)
meaning too plainly in those verses to leave us any
doubt as to it.”

“JT don’t understand it,” said Aunt Immy, “and
it does seem to me a little profane to bring in christ-
ening into a fairy tale.”

“Why, Aunt Immy, there is a christening in
the ‘Sleeping Beauty,’”’ said Winny.

“ This is a sort of little allegory,” said the young
author’s gentle voice. ‘I did not mean it to be
profane, I’m sure, Aunt Immy.”

“Tt is the best story you have yet done, Nest,” |
said Aunt Hermy : “though I don’t think the verses
scan as smoothly as they might, do they ?”

This was the mild family criticism which Nest’s

criticized before Aunt Hermy and Winny had done
with it. Winny rather puzzled Nest by msisting |
upon knowing what every detail meant, and Nest
had to reiterate that she did not mean every part to
signify something definite, like the Pilgrim’s Pro-
gress.

“Tt is only an illustration of love conquering the
fear of death,” she said at last. ‘“ Now please we have
had enough of it : and I want to go and sketch the

rocks at that point. Winny, come with me, there’s |

a dear.”

Almost at this moment appeared Colonel |
Armyn with his two children ; Flora in her habit, |
looking graceful and handsome as usual. Flora
was in ecstasies with the delights of Red Cove, and |
declared that now they had once seen it they must |
come very often. She went off with Escott and |
Winny to hunt for sea-anemones, leaving Nest to

her sketch and the society of her aunts and Colonel