as sleeping and a toad--still a toad--always a toad--came to
me and said:

"'The moment approaches when your dear Ourson is to resume his natural
skin. To you he is to be indebted for this change. I hate him! I hate
you! You shall not make each other happy! Ourson shall perish and you
cannot accomplish the sacrifice which in your folly you meditate. In a
few days, yes, perhaps in a few hours I shall take a signal vengeance
upon you both. Good-bye--do you hear?--till we meet again!'

"I awoke, suppressed a cry which was about to issue from my lips and
saw, as I saw on that day in which you saved me from the water, the
hideous toad creeping upon the shutter and gazing at me menacingly. It
disappeared, leaving me more dead than alive. I arose dressed myself and
came to find you my brother, my friend to warn you against the vengeance
of the fairy Furious and to entreat you to seek the aid of the good
fairy Drolette."

Ourson listened in great alarm. He was not frightened by the fate which
menaced himself--he was agitated by the sacrifice which Furious
announced and which he understood but too well. The thought alone of his
dear and lovely Violette being muffled up in his hideous bear's skin
through devotion to him made him tremble and he preferred death.
Ourson's anguish was pictured in his countenance, and Violette, who was
watching him closely, threw herself upon his neck and sobbed violently.

"Alas! my brother, my dear brother, you will soon be torn from me. You,
who do not know what it is to fear, now tremble. You who comfort me
encourage me and sustain me in all my fears have now no word to utter to
restore my failing courage. You who have combated the most terrible
dangers now bow your head and are resigned to fate."

"No, Violette, it is not fear which makes me tremble--it is not fear
which agitates me. It is a word which the fairy Furious has uttered, of
which you do not comprehend the meaning but which I understand
perfectly. The threat was addressed to you, my Violette. It is for you I
tremble!"

Violette divined from this that the moment of sacrifice had come, that
she was about to be called upon to keep the promise she had made to the
fairy Drolette. In place of trembling and shrinking, she felt the most
lively joy. She could now at last make some return for the devotion, the
incessant watchful tenderness of her dear Ourson--could in her turn be
useful to him. She made no response to the fears expressed b