two strangers.

Youri listened to the clang with a spasm of fear in his heart; then
the desperate position he was in gave him courage. There was no
retreat for him now, and in front was drawn up a large force of
gnomes, whose arrows were falling like hail about him. He raised his
shield to ward them off, and as he did so his eyes fell on a little
man standing on a rock above the rest, with a crown on his head and a
royal mantle on his shoulders. In an instant Youri had flung away his
shield and sprung forward, regardless of the arrows that still fell
about him.

[Illustration: 'IS THIS THE MAN THAT YOU WISH TO MARRY?']

'Oh, is it you, is it _really_ you, my deliverer? And is it your
subjects who hold as a captive Abeille whom I love?'

'I am King Loc,' was the answer. And the figure with the long beard
bent his eyes kindly on the eager youth. 'If Abeille has lived with us
all these years, for many of them she was quite happy. But the gnomes,
of whom you think so little, are a just people, and they will not keep
her against her will. Beg the princess to be good enough to come
hither,' he added, turning to Rug.

Amidst a dead silence Abeille entered the vast space and looked around
her. At first she saw nothing but a vast host of gnomes perched on the
walls and crowding on the floor of the big hall. Then her eyes met
those of Youri, and with a cry that came from her heart she darted
towards him, and threw herself on his breast.

'Abeille,' said the king, when he had watched her for a moment, with a
look of pain on his face, 'is this the man that you wish to marry?'

'Yes, Little King Loc, this is he and nobody else! And see how I can
laugh now, and how happy I am!' And with that she began to cry.

'Hush, Abeille! there must be no tears to-day,' said Youri, gently
stroking her hair. 'Come, dry your eyes, and thank King Loc, who
rescued me from the cage in the realm of the Undines.'

As Youri spoke Abeille lifted her head, and a great light came into
her face. At last she understood.

'You did that for me?' she whispered. 'Ah, Little King Loc----!'

* * * * *

So, loaded with presents, and followed by regrets, Abeille went home.
In a few days the marriage took place; but however happy she was, and
however busy she might be, never a month passed by without a visit
from Abeille to her friends in the kingdom of the gnomes.

(Adapted and shortened from the story of _Abeille_, by