Page:The Enchanted Knights; or The Chronicle of the Three Sisters.djvu/88

8 discovery awakened in Udo a suspicion that the mysterious guest might by chance nourish an impure flame towards his spouse, which he was afraid to give vent to, and unable to subdue. As the microscopic seed of jealousy where it falls germinates into a poisonous mushroom, which, in a humid night grows from an atom to its full size, so was the prince as quickly strengthened in his suspicion, yet also as quickly undeceived.

On one of their hunting excursions Udo and his favourite were separated from the rest of the party, when the latter approached the prince, and said:—“Brave prince, you have taken pity on the shipwrecked and he is not ungrateful for the boon. By right of shorage I was your slave, but you granted me my liberty, and I now intend to use it—I shall return to my country, if you will permit me to depart.” The prince returned:—“My friend, you are at liberty to do as you choose, still your leaving is unexpected, say therefore what drives you hence?” “A suspicion that wounds my feelings,” retorted Waidewuth the Unknown, “which you have conceived, though my heart absolves me from the slightest stain. You mistake, my melancholy has quite a different cause than you imagine