Page:The Enchanted Knights; or The Chronicle of the Three Sisters.djvu/45

Rh resigned to her fate, returned love for love, and rendered Albert the happiest bear under the sun. Not to be any more exposed to hunger, she took care to provide herself always with oranges, almonds, and the most delicate confectionary, and fruits; nor did she forget to put into her bed several flasks of wine, so that her kitchen and cellar contained every thing necessary during the metamorphosis.

Twenty-one years had now elapsed since Wulfield first came to inhabit the enchanted forest, and none of her youthful charms had suffered from the influence of time, nor did their mutual love feel the flight of years; for Mother Nature, in spite of all the charms disturbing her dominions, still maintains her authority; and as long as things are withdrawn by magic from her control, she carefully watches over her rights, and prevents time from exercising its influence over them. So, according to the testimony of holy writings, the seven sleepers, after their sleep of an hundred years, arose as fresh and vigorous from the Roman catacombs as when they had entered, and their age had in fact only increased by a single night. Wulfield, following the calculations of good dame Nature, had lived but three years, and was still in the flower of age; it was