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206 CHAPTER III.

A NIGHT WITH UNEARTHLY FRIENDS.

OULD you like to retire?" said Aleriel. "You must be tired. I have prepared a couch for you here in this cabin, from which I have moved our instruments."

He touched a glistening crystal ornament at the side of the room, and instantly a sliding panel rose in the wall, disclosing a small cabin where some cushions were laid, covered with rich, but quaint, ornaments of fine embroidery. The cabin looked comfortable, and gorgeously, though eccentrically, fitted.

"Do let us go back," whispered my wife, "it seems dreadful to spend the night with these extraordinary beings. I would rather sleep in the meanest châlet on the slope than in this place."

"Why should you fear us?" said Aleriel. "What have we done or said to make you think that we would harm you? We would injure no one. Still our ways, even our life, is