closed together again, but a faint illumination still remained, in
which Calladon and Callia again seemed to themselves to resume their
natural form. But even then, Calladon caught a glimpse of himself in
the enchanted mirror; and there was once more the crook-backed,
grisly-faced dwarf that had frightened him in Cada, now made more ugly
yet by the serpent-mud of Bra.

'Oh, Callia, it is the truth!' groaned he. 'Our own eyes have deceived
us, and our lamp has led us astray; but in the mirror is the light of
the great lamp, and it shows me as I really am.'

'Yes, it is the truth!' answered Callia. 'It must be so!'

'It is well that you have found it out, even so late as this,' said a
stern voice close behind them; and looking round, the children saw a
tall, threatening figure, with angry eyes, and in his hand a heavy
whip.

'Who is it?' faltered the children to each other, with trembling
voices.

'I am he who built Abracadabra,' replied he of the angry eyes,
brandishing his whip. 'I built it clean and wholesome, and you have
made it a place of mud and serpents, and all unclean things. This dirt
in which you have wallowed is the evil that has come out of your own
minds and hearts, and these snakes were called into life by the light
of the lamp which you stole from the lamp of Abra. Therefore your doom
is, to repair the mischief you have done. You shall cleanse these
rooms that you have defiled, until they are as pure as they appeared
when you looked on them through the alabaster wall. From this hour,
too, you shall see each other no more until your work is done. As you
were given to each other for happiness, so, since you have disobeyed
the law by which alone your happiness could be everlasting, you shall
be separated to do your penance. And I will stand over you with the
whip; and every time you pause to breathe or rest, you shall be
driven onwards with a blow.'

Scarcely had the tall man uttered these awful words, than Calladon saw
Callia suddenly vanish from his side; and at the same moment he felt
the heavy stroke of the whip across his shoulders, and heard the stern
voice bidding him work. So to work he went with all his might; and
with his bare hands--for no tools were given him--he strove to scrape
away the mud from the floor, and to clear the mould from the walls,
and to pull down the decaying weeds that dangled from the roof. But,
for a long time, he seemed to make no progress; the mud rose before
him in