have a dream rudely broken), "has Gr?l been prophesying woe; and I

ithfully prophesied evil to our fair land, no one knew. The reason of his madness-and the method which sometimes seemed to lurk beneath it-no one could confidently guess. At least, such ignorance in regard to this fantastic fool seemed general throughout the country. But there lay here and there a suspicion that the Black Abbé,

g light-blue eyes, the snowy tangle of his hair and beard. Only his pointed cap betrayed that its wearer dwelt not altogether beyond the pale of mutability. Its adornments seemed to recognize the seasons. I had seen it stuck with cornflowers in the summer, with golden-rod

easy fascination the first time I met its possessor. That little stick, which Gr?l wielded with 13authority as if it were a sceptre, still c

ce curiously with his gleaming eyes. "And meanwhile I have come. I think, monsieur,

choose his own time for speech. His eyes danced with a shifting, sharp light, and after thrusting his little wand at me

You think it is long coming? It is even now come. The shadow of the smoke

erewith to answer him. Then his eyes and hi

l!-with joy in your heart; and your joy ev

ck and his wand thrust at me with a suddenness that made me recoil in chil

or another's, there is an evil hand uplif

y in his carriage which all his grotesquerie of garb could not conceal, he left me to chew upon his words. As for the warning, that was surely plain enough. I was to go to Yvonne, and be by her in case of any need. The business thus laid upon me was altogether to my liking. But that pitying word