300 WHISPERS FROM FAIRYLAND. {v1.

 

struck her or was cruel to her save by neglect and by
words. Not so bad as that was I, though bad enough
in every other way. But one evening when I had had
my fill of liquor, and was going on in my old ways,
and boasting of some cruel exploit or other, my wife
expostulated and advised until she drove me nearly
wild. In a moment of bitter folly I taunted her
about the lover of her youth, and let her know that
his death was no accident. Never will her look of
horror be effaced from. my memory. She started
back from me with disgust. With all my faults, she
had never deemed me capable of wilful, deliberate
assassination. In her pure soul she could not have
imagined such a depth of wickedness to be possible.
It broke her heart. She never held up her head
again, and left me-with those three children in this
old castle, a lonely widower, with my good angel
taken from me for ever.

‘I never married again. I never cared much for
any of the other sex, save and except for that
daughter of whom I spoke to you at first. Christina
was the apple of my eye. My pet, my darling, my
own beautiful child—I can scarcely speak of you
now. At this point the little red man paused, lit
his pipe, which had gone out, gave a whiff or two,
replenished and emptied another glass of madeira,
heaved one more sigh, and then continued his story,
in which the traveller had become so much interested
that he took very good care not to interrupt.

‘My sons grew up strong and vigorous; they
hunted and shot, scaled the mountains and explored
the forests, excelling in every active and manly sport.