al wench--to be enamoured of a man whose face you
have never seen!"

"I recognize him by his voice, by the beating of his heart."

"Well, if I were a girl and had a lover, I would insist on seeing his
face. He should not come to me in a mask anyhow."

"He cannot put off his mask, I tell you. His oath forbids him to. The
moment he removes his mask from his face his power is gone, and neither
the devil nor the good angels will obey him any longer."

"That is true," returned the old man solemnly. "When he likes he can
make himself invisible. I know it. He has always escaped pursuit even
when the whole country was out after him, and when they thought they had
him fast he always disappeared in the earth or in the air. Yet, for all
that, if I were his love, see his face I would."

"He told me I should die of fright if I beheld it."

"Then I _would_ die of fright--but I would see it."

"His eyes are very fine,--they glow like coals."

"Like coals? Perhaps he is the Dracu[16] himself. Have you ever tried to
make him kiss the amulet on which is the image of St. George and the
Dragon?"

[Footnote 16: Dracu-dragon, _i.e._, devil.]

"Yes he has kissed it and was none the worse."

"Have you tried to get him to lay his three fingers on a copper
crucifix?"

"He laid his fingers thereon and yet they were not burnt."

"Can he say the prayer of condemnation without trembling?"

"He has said it hundreds of times."

"Nevertheless, I maintain he is no mortal man."

"If he should love another woman, I swear that he will very soon find
out that he _is_ mortal."

Talking thus the riders had descended into the depths of the valley, and
when the mountain stream again crossed their path they quitted the usual
footpath and followed the bed of the stream. And a very good road it is
for such as do not wish to leave foot-marks behind them. The rapid
current swiftly fills the traces of the horses' hoofs with leaves and
pebbles.

The ravine grew ever deeper and narrower, and the stream at intervals
formed small cataracts which the horses, who had been trained thereto,
had to cross. Finally, at a sudden declivity, the water took an
unexpected leap of four yards, and when the riders reined up at this
very spot, it was plain that here a mill had been built into the
hillside, whose wheel it was which drove the swiftly plunging water
along.

If a stranger saw this mill he would certainly say: "What foolish man
the miller must be who