y, but Beauty answered sweetly:
"Good-evening, Beast."

"Have you come willingly?" asked the Beast. "Will you be content to stay
here when your father goes away?"

Beauty answered bravely that she was quite prepared to stay.

"I am pleased with you," said the Beast. "As you have come of your own
accord, you may stay. As for you, old man," he added, turning to the
merchant, "at sunrise to-morrow you will take your departure. When the
bell rings get up quickly and eat your breakfast, and you will find the
same horse waiting to take you home; but remember that you must never
expect to see my palace again."

Then turning to Beauty, he said:

"Take your father into the next room, and help him to choose everything
you think your brothers and sisters would like to have. You will find
two traveling-trunks there; fill them as full as you can. It is only
just that you should send them something very precious as a remembrance
of yourself."

Then he went away, after saying, "Good-by, Beauty; good-by, old man";
and though Beauty was beginning to think with great dismay of her
father's departure, she was afraid to disobey the Beast's orders; and
they went into the next room, which had shelves and cupboards all round
it. They were greatly surprised at the riches it contained. There were
splendid dresses fit for a queen, with all the ornaments that were to
be worn with them; and when Beauty opened the cupboards she was quite
dazzled by the gorgeous jewels that lay in heaps upon every shelf. After
choosing a vast quantity, which she divided between her sisters--for she
had made a heap of the wonderful dresses for each of them--she opened
the last chest, which was full of gold.

"I think, father," she said, "that, as the gold will be more useful to
you, we had better take out the other things again, and fill the trunks
with it." So they did this; but the more they put in the more room there
seemed to be, and at last they put back all the jewels and dresses they
had taken out, and Beauty even added as many more of the jewels as she
could carry at once; and then the trunks were not too full, but they
were so heavy that an elephant could not have carried them!

"The Beast was mocking us," cried the merchant; "he must have pretended
to give us all these things, knowing that I could not carry them away."

"Let us wait and see," answered Beauty. "I cannot believe that he meant
to deceive us. All we can do is to fasten them up and lea