Daily Kennebec journal., 1896-03-26

she offered one of the precious stones to
each of the Young girls She would have
given the pearls away also had not the
queen prevented any further acts of gen.
erosity.
"Thy friends must be fabulously
wealthy, observed one of the n,aidens
II do not know the meaning OF
wealthy" said Alba. 'The gnomes
bring great sacks Of treasure from the
center Of tho earth, and when they dc
not bring enough they are punished by
my mother"
The queens face darkened, and he1
countonance was troubled, and calling
her son aside she said to him:
This fair creature can be none othe1
than tho child of that horrible old sor
ceress. Bahia Coaja Take her back al
once to the place where thou found her
for she will bring only trouble and mis-
fortune to our house"
''Do not ask that of me, mother
mine" said the young prince, growing
pale with anxiety. Il love Alba witt
all my heart, with all my soul, and wert
she the terrible Baba in person / feel
could not separate myself from her
The queen sighed, but perceiving that
opposition was useless she ordered
room to bo prepared for Alba near tc
her own apartments, and the wedding
was fixed to take place on the followin,
day.
Then, on the queen wishing to array
her future daughter with her own royai
hands for the ceremony, she had most
painful dispute with her, for Alba oh
stinately refused to allow the beteela t
be fastened i'll her hair. She ran about
the castle like a frightened deer; she
threw herself Oh the divans and gave
vent to floods of tears, begging and i'm
ploring that she might be spared this
misery. She said the queen might place
Oh her head any quantity of her own
silkcn thread, spun by her maids, but
she would have none of the fatal gold
affixed there
While she sobbed and besought un-
ceasingly, the queen made Il sign to her
attendants and two of them in obedi-
ence to the sign held the poor girl S TIM
hands, while third attached the golden
veil to her head. Every one now expect
ed an explosion of rage and despair, but
Alba became perfectly impassive, and,
pale as death, she bowed her lovely head
under it's accursed burden.
Thou art more cruel than my own
mother" said she, "for she would not
allow me to wed in order to avoid nv
being unhappy, but thou-thou hast
summoned this Woe about to fall upon
me of thy own free will"
No one could understand the drift of
these words, which Alba refused to ex-
plain, and this increased the general dis
trust against her.
She became SO sad that those around
her could not believe that she was the
same brilliant creature they had seen
but the evening previously. Even the
fond VOWS of everlasting love, MUIR
INJURED in her shell-like ear by the young
prince, were powerless to dispel the
cloud storm from her brow.
When she appeared at court, the
fabulous and countless treasures of the
young princess were the chief topic of
conversation. Prince Porfia was urged
to inspect them more lninutely, but he
did not care for riches, he said, and
only thought how to make his young
bride smile again, but all his efforts
proved wholly Intellectual. At length he
set forth in search of her former sur
roundings, deeming that on seeing the
familiar objects Of her childhood her
gayety would return, for she regarded
with disdain the small stones considered
oy others as jewels and could not in
ouce herself to understand that such
meager baubles could possess value for
any one. When she heard that the
prince intended to return to her moth
er's citadel, she exhibited the greatest
CONSERVATION and terror. imploring him
and supplicating him to give up his in.
tention.
Thou goest to thy death, - said she
but he would not be dissuaded from his
purpose. and the more he heard of the
dangers which menaced him the more
did he desire to encounter and surmount
them. So he set out secretly one night,
leaving his young wife in deep slumber,
and advanced to the Baba's castle, fol-
lowed by handful Of his most trusty
nohleA