away, he said to her: 'You're
good and you'll remain true to me'; and when, after many years, he
returned, quite black with the eastern sun, he found his wife with
another man, and so he bound the two together, put them in a boat and
rowed them over to Woerth where he left them; and there they lay, and
had nothing to eat, and nothing to drink, and were tied together and
died of hunger, and the birds of the air ate them. They were adulterers
and it served them right; but he was horrible for all. And even
nowadays, on spirit nights, you can often see a little blue flame on
the island of Woerth, and they say that the Lady of Waldeck's soul has
passed into a nymph and that she must wander about."

Such was Walpurga's story.

"I haven't frightened you, I hope?" said she, anxiously, as she
observed the queen's fixed gaze. "That's what they say. But may be it's
only talk, after all."

"No, no. Don't be anxious about that," cried the queen. "So many
different thoughts pass through my mind."

"Like enough; it's very hard to be the housewife, with so big a house
as this to keep, and so many folk in it."

The queen laughed heartily.

Walpurga did not know that she had said anything odd or droll and was
therefore surprised at the effect of her remarks; but she soon became
satisfied that all she said was quoted. This made her quite shy,
although she would now and then give way to fits of extravagance and
would, at such moments, delight in her own odd freaks, for they always
provoked a smile. While the queen aimed to be as simple as possible in
her intercourse with Walpurga, the latter was, with each succeeding
day, becoming more artificial and affected. She copied herself and her
whilom _naivete_. When she knew that the queen was within hearing, she
would repeat the wondrous combination of words with which she was wont
to amuse the prince. She one day began to sing of her own accord and,
when she had finished, she felt surprised and almost hurt, because her
song had elicited no remark from the queen. Had she not sung well?

The queen had said nothing, because she feared that she might embarrass
her.

There was a strange contrast between these two women, each of whom was
trying to place herself in more perfect sympathy with the other, while
both were, with every step, adding to the distance that separated them.

It was a great day when the queen, accompanied by Walpurga and the
crown prince, rode out for the first time.