low and clear, not the echoing, mocking
laughter, known so well to the evil fairies of that land, but a laugh of
rippling music, as if all sweet sounds, all gentle whisperings of the
fire were caught up and gathered into it. The Prince listened to it with
keen delight. Of all the notes of gladness that he had ever heard, it
was to him the loveliest; and she herself, gliding tall and beautiful
beside him, he could never tire of gazing upon.

They came at last to the Land of Shadows. Its pale trees and gardens lay
before them, and in the distance they saw the Palace of Shadows lifting
its grey towers against the sky.

They had spoken less and less frequently as they drew near it, and the
laughter of the Shadow Witch had ceased, for her heart had grown heavy,
and her mind was filled with troubled thoughts. Soon Prince Ember would
leave her to return to his own home in that fair land which she so much
longed to behold. He had left it to come to her deliverance, and at
first sight of him she had known that her heart's love could never be
given to anyone but him. That he loved her in return, she did not doubt.
His eyes had said it, the tones of his voice had revealed it a hundred
times. Had he not called her more than once his "dear Shadow Witch," and
given himself to danger for her sake again and again?

Yet he said no word of taking her home with him--of making her his bride;
and so her eyes were sad, and her heart was full of pain at the thought
of the parting which was now so near at hand. She did not dare to speak,
lest her grief should break forth uncontrolled.

Who was she, she told herself, the mischievous Shadow Witch, a creature
of grey magic, to be the bride of such a one as this bright, this
glorious Prince, whose magic was all noble, whose land was all joy and
brightness? In her mind she had no picture of that land. She had seen
only Prince Radiance and his White Flame and this Prince Ember, yet she
could guess from these, its bright inhabitants, how marvelous the Land
of Fire must be.

She bowed her head humbly as she thought of it. Its greatest glory, its
noblest Prince could never be for her but she was determined that when
he had gone from her, she would forsake her own home and would seek the
confines at least of the Land of Fire, and there live in a little of its
brightness--there learn what she could of its good magic. This much she
must do, for her old life, her old ways, were now more than ever
int