ws on
it every day. But it's hard--just feel--it's as hard as steel."

Irma stood there, as if rooted to the spot.

"Hush!" said Esther. "Hush. I hear the dogs. I told you he'd hunt for
us. Fly! fly! There, to the right! that's the path; but, I beg of you,
for the sake of everything in the world, don't do it--don't do it. You
haven't gone far enough for that. But, be off. Down there you'll come
to a small, wooden bridge. Cross it and hurry on. I'll stay here; the
dogs will come to me and I'll detain them. You're saved. Away! Away!"

She urged Irma away, and remained behind.

Irma hurried on, alone. She often pressed her hand to her brow.
Grateful remembrance of her father had saved her from unspeakable
horror. When his hand rested on Esther's head, it had been in token of
forgiveness. But the characters he had branded on Irma's brow, told her
that he had forever put her away from him. "The brand upon my brow can
only be cooled by the waters of the deep lake," she kept saying to
herself, while she hurried across the wooden bridge, and then over the
rising ground until she again entered the dark forest.

Black Esther stood her ground quietly, and waited for the dogs to
approach. She called them, and they ran toward her. She heard
Thomas whistling, and the dogs answering. He was still far off, but he
was on the right track. She counted every pulsation; for with every
heart-beat, Irma was one step further from where her pursuer must halt.
She was willing to suffer all. What did it matter?

"Yes, yes; I know you're fond of me," said she to the great wolf-dog,
that fawned upon her. "Yes, you're the only creature in this world that
loves me. I wish I'd been a dog, too. Why wasn't I born a dog? If it
were only true, as mother says, that there once were times when people
were changed into other beings."

Thomas's whistle and cry were again heard. The dogs answered. He drew
nearer and soon stood beside her.

"So it's you, is it? I thought as much. Where's the other one?"

"Where you'll never find her."

A cry of pain resounded from the woods.

"Kill me at once!" cried Esther. The dogs howled, but knew not which of
the two they would help.

Thomas went off, leaving Esther lying where she had fallen.

CHAPTER XII.

On the soft moss under the trees near the border of the forest, a
beautiful female, clad in blue, lay stretched in sleep. The trembling
sunbeams played about her fac