elt down and buried his face
in his hands, and prayed the spirits of that place to make him worthy.

The hours passed, quarter by quarter, and the King stayed motionless
like one in a dream. Presently, however, the dream was faintly shaken
by a little lirrup of sound, as light as rain dropping from leaves
above a pool. Again and again the sweet round notes fell on the
meditations of the King, and he remembered with entrancement that this
was the tender signal by which he was summoned to the Pond. So, rising
silently, he wandered through the trees, and keeping his eyes fixed on
the soft dim turf, lest some new beauty should tempt him to speech, he
went across the open hill the Pond. Here he knelt down again, listening
to the childlike bird, until at last the young piping ceased with a
joyous chuckle. And at that instant, reflected in the Pond, he saw the
silver star that watches the invisible young moon, and dipped his head.

Oh, my dear maids! When he lifted it again, all wet and bewildered, he
saw upon the opposite border of the Pond, a figure, the white figure
of--a woman! a girl! a child! He could not tell, for she lay three
parts in the shadowy water with her back towards him, and his gaze and
senses swam; but in that faint starlight one bare and lovely arm, as
white as the crescent moon, was clear to him, upcurved to her shadowy
hair. So she reclined, and so he knelt, both motionless, and his heart
trembled (even as it had trembled at the bird's song) with a wish to go
near to her, or at least to whisper to her across the water. Indeed, he
was on the point of doing so, when a sudden contraction seized him, his
eyes closed in a delicious agony, and he sneezed once vigorously; and
in that moment of shattering blackness he recalled his vow, and rising
turned his back upon the vision and groped his way again to the shelter
of the trees.

Here he remained till dawn in meditation, but as to the nature of his
meditations I am, dear maidens, ignorant. Nor do I know in what
restless wise he passed his Sunday.

It is enough to know that on Monday when he went into the forge he
found the Lad already at work, and if he had been pitch-black at their
parting he was no less so at their meeting. He appeared to be out of
humor, and for some time regarded his apprentice with dissatisfaction,
but only remarked at last:

"You look fatigued."

"My sleep was broken with dreams," said the King. "I am sorry if I am
late. Let me to