Page:Helen Leah Reed - Napoleons young neighbour.djvu/171

Rh Napoleon sometimes rode into this valley, and one day he turned to Betsy:

"Mees Betsee, have you ever seen 'Will-o'-the-Wisp' that they say lights the friar's lantern?"

"Oh, yes; my mother used to send me over there for purer air, and my old nurse had a cottage overlooking the vale. She was teaching me the alphabet, and when I did not arrange my letters properly she would threaten me with the friar."

The story, as Betsy had often heard it, was that the friar had been a good Franciscan monk, but he fell in love with a girl in a mountain cottage, whom he met while she was tending goats. She asked him to help her find something that she had lost, and thus attracted his attention. Later he made love to her and she promised to marry him if he would give up his faith. So the man broke his vows to the Church; but, when he was to be married, as he was clasping the bride's hand, there was a fearful crash: the chapel disappeared and with it all those who were taking part in the unholy wedding.

"Have you noticed," asked Betsy of