Year: 1868

as II not one moment COufu D6 lOSt. lt
wrote on my flesh. And then the letters
burnedl o., you may believe that l suf-
| feredl


e"sNow when I got well, do you sup
pose went to that low, secret valley, and
| dug up those golden things and sold
them? Ono, I could not bear to see them.
And stayed there with the shepherd, and
helped him watch his flocks by night


"'And it happened that one day the
Queen passed over the mountains with all
| her train And she wanted to find a little
blue flower, but none of them knew where
it grew. Now had seen some grow
ing far below, on the face of a
steep rock, and | let myself down
there, and picked q good handful.
She liked me very much for doing this,
and took me to her own city; and as
pleased her well she gave me first money,
next rich presents, and next a fine house,
where made grand parties, and we had
music and dancing, and very gay times.


"'But what do you think? The Hand
came backi Or seemed to come back.
And wrote that same word! Wrote it on
the green of the grass, wrote it ON the
blue of the sky and ON the darkness of
the night, wrote it on my forehead, and
looked in the looking-glass very often to
see if the word showed there For l
thought people could read it. Even in my
dreams it was just the same. For then
the good Baron himself would seem to
stand before me, and hold out paper,
with that word written on it. or else my
little girl that died would seem to hold it
out to me, and look SO mournful


"And something else came A whis-
pering. A low, whispering voice at my
ear. Only one word, but it was that same
word I seemed to hear it everywhere.
In the streets l heard it, and turned quick
to see who was whispering. But no one
was there. In the midst of the music and
dancing, and in the still hours of the
night, l heard it too, and could not sleep.
But still would not take the things and
carry them back to the Baron. [ shall
. feel better soon, l said. But did not feel
better.


"And now what do you think? Shall
golden things are here. One night when
; | could not sleep I said to myself, l will
set off by the early morning light,
and I will go to that low, secret
valley, and I will dig up those
golden presents, and return them to
their owner. And from the very moment
that said this to myself l never saw the
hand nor heard the whispering!


"'And now the castle stands before me.
But cannot, o, cannot meet the eye of
E that old man. Do you know why have
brought you here, and told you this story?
To ask you to give these into the Baron s
own hands, and say to him that will re-
main until tomorrow night at the "White
Horse" where the officers may find me-


Early in the next morning Valentine
arrived at the castle, and began walking
about the grounds to see what he could
see.


"And the first thing he saw was a little
spring of water bubbling up, and ne drop
ped his basket, and stepped down to take
! drink.


"And while he lay there fiat on the
grass, sucking in the clear cold water,
there came along the stiff looking steward
of the castle, all dressed out in gold lace
and ruff1es. He touched the basket with
his silver-pointed cane, and, when he
found it was very heavy, thought he
would just peep to see what there was in
side.


"Just as he was doing this, Valentine
lifted up his head to catch a long breath,
and saw somebody meddling with his bas-
ket.


"Don't NEEDLE with that, sir p he cried
out


"sIndeed shall meddle with that, sir ,
the stiff steward said. For he had found
all those golden things, marked with the
names of the family. And when Valen-
tine began to tell where he got them, and
what he was going to do with them, he
laughed at him, and said, Hush up with
your silly story Do you think anybody
will believe that? Then he searched him,
and took away his bag of gold pieces, and
the letter marked Private and then
shut him up in CELL


"But when the Baron came home he
said, Let me look him in the face! can
tell by his face whether he speaks true or
false And when he had looked him in
the face, and heard his story, he believed
every word of it, and gave back the gold
pieces and the square letter.


"tThen send to the "White Horse"
and catch the theft cried the stiff
steward.


"But the Baron said, No. That mans
thoughts are the worst punishment he can
have


"And when he saw that the lad was a
smart, likely lad, he offered to employ him; ;
but Valentine said he must go to find the
Great Governor Joriando.'


"Then merchant stepped forward,
who had iourneyei from far country,
and said that long time before he had
passed the Great Governor Joriando with
troop of soldiers, and they were march
ing In haste to the Kings Palace And
also that the King and his armies were
gone to the wars.


"But keep the letter. said the Baron
1t may be of use to you


"Yes, keep the letter to the Great Jori-
ando, by all neans!' said the merchant.
And he went away.


$50 Valentine remained with the Baron,
and served him very long time, and
saved great deal of money.


"And one day as he was sitting all alone
in shady lane, playing on his jews-harp,
he looked through the trees and saw cot
tsge where lovely girl sat in the door
way, weeping And he went to find out
the reason. The name of this girl was
Pauline. She was weeping because the
goats had gone astray. For they were
her uncle's goats, and he would be angry
with her for their going astray.


"Now Valentine was always ready to
| do favors; SO he ran quickly to find the
goats, and drove them home. And the
lovely young girl smiled very sweetly
through her tears.


"And not long after he walked through
the shady lane again, and found the love
ly girl sitting in the doorway, weeping for
her only brother, who had joined band
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