ound--the hard-hearted creature!"

"How cruel!" said Helen, "I hope she got lost herself."

"Don't interrupt, Helen," said Louis, whose eyes were kindling with
excitement. "You may be sure she had some punishment."

"Yes, that she did," continued the narrator, "and I tell you it was
worse than being lost, bad as that is. By-and-by she came out of the
forest, into a smooth road, and a horseman galloped to meet her, that
would have scared anybody else in the world but her. Not that he was so
ugly, but he was dressed all in black, and he had such a powerful head
of black hair, that hung all about him like a cloak, and mixed up with
the horse's flowing mane, and that was black too, and so was his horse,
and so were his eyes, but his forehead was as white as snow, and his
cheeks were fair and ruddy. He rode right up to the young maiden, and
reaching down, swung his arm round her, and put her up before him on the
saddle, and away they rode, as swift as a weaver's shuttle. I don't
believe a horse ever went so fast before. Every little stone his hoofs
struck, would blaze up, just for a second, making stars all along the
road. As they flew on, his long black hair got twisted all around her,
and every time the wind blew, it grew tighter and tighter, till she
could scarcely breathe, and she prayed him to stop, and unwind his long
black hair, before it reached her throat, for as sure as she was alive
then, it would strangle her.

"'You have hands as well as I,' said he, with a mocking laugh, 'unwind
it yourself, fair maiden.'

"Then she remembered what she had said to the poor little lost child,
and she cried out as the child did, when she left it alone in the
forest. All the time the long locks of hair seemed taking root in her
heart, and drawing it every step they went.

"'Now,' said her companion, reining up his black horse, 'I'll release
you.'

"And unsheathing a sharp dagger, he cut the hair through and through, so
that part of it fell on the ground in a black shower. Then giving her a
swing, he let her fall by the way-side, and rode on hurraing by the
light of the moon."

Miss Thusa paused to take breath, and wiped her spectacles, as if she
had been reading with them all the time she had been talking.

"Is that all?" asked Helen.

"No, indeed, that cannot be the end," said Louis. "Go on Miss Thusa. The
black knight ought to be scourged for leaving her there on the ground."

"There she lay," resumed Miss Thusa, "m