Page:The Enchanted Knights; or The Chronicle of the Three Sisters.djvu/46

34 the same with her husband and the whole enchanted court.

All this the noble pair explained to the gallant knight, in a bower of jasmine and honeysuckle, during a morning walk in the park. The happy day passed too fleetly in the midst of splendor and festivities. After the banquet, a drawing-room was held. Some of the courtiers promenaded the park with the ladies, till the trumpet’s call summoned them to the evening banquet, in a large gallery surrounded with mirrors, and lighted by countless wax candles, where the company made merry till the midnight hour tolled. Wulfield filled her pockets and advised her brother to do the same. When the cloth was removed Albert appeared agitated, and whispered something to his wife, whereupon she took her brother Reginald aside, and said in a sad voice:—“Dear brother, we must part, the hour of metamorphosis is not distant, when all the pleasures of the palace will vanish. Albert fears, lest he should not be able to resist his brutal instinct, to tear you in pieces, upon meeting you after the approaching change. Leave this unlucky forest, never to return.” “Alas,“Alas,” [sic] replied Reginald, “happen what may, I cannot depart from you, my friends; I came to find you, and since you