nce, to whom she had
been so true a friend, had not forsaken her in her need! That hope, of
which she had boasted, and which had so nearly faded from her heart,
sprang again to fulness of life. She threw up her arms in uncontrollable
rejoicing, and her voice rang sweet and high and clear as she exclaimed:
"Ah, he has come at last, the good Prince Radiance! He has not failed
me! Think not that your guards can stay him. Think not that your evil
friends are able to destroy him. He has conquered them once--he will
conquer again. Already you yourself have felt his mystic power. You
shall feel it once more, my brother, when he returns. I have done well
to hope!"

"Nay, not so fast," the Wizard flung at her scornfully. "He who comes is
not Prince Radiance, but some stranger prince. One who owes you no
friendship, whose power is untested, who has no cause to brave great
dangers for your sake--grey woman that you are. From the perils that he
must meet he will soon turn back, if indeed he live to do so."

Undismayed, undiscouraged, the Shadow Witch bent her dark eyes upon him.
"What matter that he is a stranger?" she cried confidently. "They who
come from that bright land count themselves no strangers to the weak and
the defenceless. They have, too, their own noble magic, before which
ours is powerless. In a moment when you think not it will be upon you,
and its spell will overcome you. This prince is my friend! I know it
well! The hour of my deliverance is at hand!"

Loud rang the laughter of the Wizard. Harsh and vibrant it filled all
the room and echoed back from the gloomy walls. "Think you I would tell
you of this prince, did I not know that he cannot reach you? Far hid
from him are you, my sister," he triumphed, "so deep within this Cave,
and behind such walls as he can never penetrate, whatever be his magic.
The secret that unlocks your dungeon lies with me only, and with those
to whom I choose to entrust it. The spell that holds it fast is the
all-potent spell of the Wizard of the Cave."

Proudly and boastfully he spoke, but all that he might say had no power
to dim the hope and confidence of his sister. She deigned him no reply,
but by her bearing he knew that she feared him not at all.

"When I come again," he jeered at her, "I will bring you further news of
this good prince, and how his adventure fares. It will give you food
for thought, perchance, as you sit here in your darkness."

"It will indeed sustain me, b