304. WHISPERS FROM FAIRYLAND. [v1.

 

truth, I did not often think of that matter, and when
I did, I said to myself, “ Mine is a rough life. Some
day enemies may prevail against me. Better the girl
were wedded to the Englander and far away before
such an evil day came upon our house.” So I let
things go on. Christina became more and more fond
of the Englander, and he was evidently devoted to
her.

‘There was one person, however, who took a
different view of the matter. Rudolf was very
warmly attached to his sister ; from the earliest hours
of childhood they had been companions and friends.
When I was enraged with the lad, which was often
the case upon slight cause, it was Christina who al-
ways stood between him and my wrath ; their mother
had bid him take care of and watch over his sister,
the one little lamb left to grow up in the nest of
wolves which my castle might well have been called,
and to stand by her whenever she needed a friend.
Well did Rudolf fulfil the charge. If her finger
ached, he would have ridden night and day in search
of a remedy, and his: life would have been freely
risked in her service at any moment.

‘Well, Rudolf did not like the Englander. I did not
know how it first began, nor can I now say which, if
either, was in fault. Perhaps Sir Smith took not
enough notice of the boy at first, and Rudolf was of
an age when boys like to be thought men, and to be
noticed by men. Then, no doubt, the lad grew jealous
when he found how much of his sister's time was
monopolised by the stranger, and how she gradually
grew to prefer his company even to that of her brother.
I saw, now and then, how things were going, but took