Page:The Story and Song of Black Roderick.djvu/77

Rh ‘Wherefore comest thou?’

And he who was inside answered:

‘I claim the soul of Black Roderick.’

And the voice replied:

‘Willingly do I open, for he hath slain my sweet sister with his chill heart and cruel ways, so she lieth in the dark earth who was the sunshine of our house.’

Then the door swung open so the black coach and its six horses could enter.

Again the strange coach drove on, till it came to the castle door, and there the evil being who was inside cast himself upon the ground, and, going to the door, knocked thereon three times, and a woman's voice answered, saying:

‘Who art thou?’

And the evil one replied:

‘I am he who claims the soul of Black Roderick.’

And the woman said:

‘Welcome thou art, then, for he hath destroyed my heart's treasure and buried it in the ground; so I go sorrowing all my