TWILIGHT LAND

“Well,” said the beggar, “this is the hardest town-for
a body to come into that I ever saw.” And then he
_ opened the second door and passed through.

It was fit to deafen a body! Such a shout the beggar’s
ears had never heard before; such a sight the beggar’s
eyes had never beheld, for there, before him, was a great |
splendid hall of marble as white as snow. All along the
hall stood scores of lords and ladies in silks and satins,
and with jewels on their necks and arms fit to dazzle a
body’s eyes. Right up the middle of the hall stretched a
carpet of blue velvet, and at the farther end, on a throne
of gold, sat a lady as beautiful as the sun and moon and
all the stars. i :

“Welcome! welcome!” they all shouted, until the
beggar was nearly deafened by the noise they all
made, and the lady herself stood up and smiled upon
him.

Then there came three young men, and led the
beggar up the carpet of velvet to the throne of
gold.

“Welcome, my hero!” said the beautiful lady ; ‘‘ and
have you, then, come at last?”

“Yes,” said the beggar, ‘I have.”

“Long have I waited for you,” said the lady; “long
have I waited for the hero who would dare without fear
to come through the two gates of death to marry me and
to rule as king over this country, and now at last you are
here.”

“Yes,” said the beggar, “I am.”

Meanwhile, while all these things were happening, the
king of that other country had painted out the words his
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