l.

Then a little song arose of itself in my soul; and I felt for the
moment, while it sank sadly within me, as if I was once more walking up
and down the white hall of Phantasy in the Fairy Palace. But this lasted
no longer than the song; as will be seen.

Do not vex thy violet
Perfume to afford:
Else no odour thou wilt get
From its little hoard.

In thy lady's gracious eyes
Look not thou too long;
Else from them the glory flies,
And thou dost her wrong.

Come not thou too near the maid,
Clasp her not too wild;
Else the splendour is allayed,
And thy heart beguiled.

A crash of laughter, more discordant and deriding than any I had yet
heard, invaded my ears. Looking on in the direction of the sound, I saw
a little elderly woman, much taller, however, than the goblins I had
just left, seated upon a stone by the side of the path. She rose, as I
drew near, and came forward to meet me.

She was very plain and commonplace in appearance, without being
hideously ugly. Looking up in my face with a stupid sneer, she said:
"Isn't it a pity you haven't a pretty girl to walk all alone with
you through this sweet country? How different everything would look?
wouldn't it? Strange that one can never have what one would like best!
How the roses would bloom and all that, even in this infernal hole!
wouldn't they, Anodos? Her eyes would light up the old cave, wouldn't
they?"

"That depends on who the pretty girl should be," replied I.

"Not so very much matter that," she answered; "look here."

I had turned to go away as I gave my reply, but now I stopped and looked
at her. As a rough unsightly bud might suddenly blossom into the most
lovely flower; or rather, as a sunbeam bursts through a shapeless cloud,
and transfigures the earth; so burst a face of resplendent beauty, as it
were THROUGH the unsightly visage of the woman, destroying it with light
as it dawned through it. A summer sky rose above me, gray with heat;
across a shining slumberous landscape, looked from afar the peaks of
snow-capped mountains; and down from a great rock beside me fell a sheet
of water mad with its own delight.

"Stay with me," she said, lifting up her exquisite face, and looking
full in mine.

I drew back. Again the infernal laugh grated upon my ears; again the
rocks closed in around me, and the ugly woman looked