ad been holding under
the water, and in it she held a coral necklace of wondrous beauty.

'Take it and weep no longer,' she said in her gentle voice, and she
held the necklace out toward Bertalda. 'I have had it brought to me
from the palaces below the sea. Grieve no longer for the one which you
have lost.'

But the knight saw in the necklace only another sign of Undine's
strange dealings with the water spirits. He sprang between Bertalda
and his wife and snatched from Undine's hand the beautiful necklace,
flinging it far away into the river. Then in his passion he turned to
his wife, and cried, 'Go and abide with your kindred! You are a witch,
go, dwell with those who are as you are, and take with you your gifts!
Go, trouble us no more!'

Undine looked at Huldbrand. Tears were in her blue eyes, and she wept
as a little blameless child might weep.

'Alas, beloved,' she sighed, 'farewell! No harm shall touch you while
I have power to shield you from evil. Alas, alas! why have you sent me
hence?'

She seemed to glide as she spoke over the edge of the bark, and be
drawn down into the river. And the little waves lapped against the
boat and seemed to sob as they whispered, 'Alas, alas!'

No sooner had the knight spoken than he knew what he had done. He had
lost his wife, his beautiful fair-souled Undine. He lay on the deck
stretching out empty arms, shedding bitter tears, until at length his
misery made the strong man swoon.

[Illustration: The little waves seemed to sob as they whispered,
'Alas! alas!']

CHAPTER XV

HULDBRAND AND BERTALDA

When he recovered, the knight of Ringstetten went back to his castle
with Bertalda. So bitterly did he mourn the loss of his gentle wife,
that at length he began to believe that he would never cease to weep
for her. Bertalda wept by his side, and for a long time they lived
quietly together, thinking and talking of none save the beautiful
Undine.

But as the months passed by, Huldbrand began to think a little less
and yet a little less of his beautiful lost wife.

Now about this time the old fisherman appeared at the castle. He had
come to tell the knight that it was time that his daughter Bertalda
should come to live with him in his lonely cottage by the lake.

Then the knight began to think how strange and silent it would be in
the castle if Bertalda left him. The more he thought about it the
more he disliked the thought of being left alone.

At length he spok