ting the ore, and preparing the materials for the
more skilled workmen. Here too were little cupboards with shelves into
which the costly vases were put, in order to be burnt hard like china.

The heat was so intense that Hugo and Elsa could only just peep in. It
seemed to them as if the little men must be roasted alive; but the
Kobolds were used to it, and found it quite cool and pleasant. They
swung their hammers and chattered away at the same time, the busier the
merrier; they were never idle or tired of their work.

A young dwarf page entered the hall and announced that the carriage was
ready. In another moment Hugo and Elsa found themselves standing in the
forest in the moonlight. A carriage stood ready for them drawn by six
stags. King Reinhold had dispensed with the ceremony of leave-taking; he
hated fusses, and wanted to smoke his pipe in peace.

Hugo recognised the stags; he had fed them in the winter from the
windows of the forestry; they knew him too, and nodded their gentle
heads.

O what a ride that was home through the warm September night! They saw
neither spirit nor goblin; no fairy marvel was revealed to them; only
the strong, sweet scent of the firs, the dark, weird shape of the trees,
and the stars that shone through the branches!

They held one another tight by the hand, and leaned back on the soft
cushions; they said nothing, they felt as if they were in a dream.

Presently they heard the noise of a little brook that was hidden in the
dark trees, and shortly afterwards they turned a corner and saw the
little village of Elhalten before them, peaceful and still in the early
morning light.

Elsa recognised her home after all, and called to the stags to stop.
Then she kissed Hugo and laid her little cheek against his and said:
"Good-bye, darling," and then she slipped into her house, and it all
seemed quite natural. You may imagine _how_ delighted Elsa's mother was
to have her baby girl in her arms again. There was such a kissing and
hugging as never was before!

Meanwhile Hugo drove up the steep side of the Kueppel in the rosy light
of the early morning; luckily he met no one on that lonely way. Once he
thought he saw a white form standing at the end of the path, like a tall
woman who waved her arms and beckoned. But when he looked more closely,
it was but the growing light of day through the trees, and not Mother
Holle, or the Wood-woman, as he had imagined. The stags galloped along
swiftly i