Stranica 103 [103]
WHE CASTLE OF: LIFE
of woods, waters, and a sky more beautiful than anything
of which he had ever dreamed.
" Have you always done your duty?" said the voice, in a
harsher tone.
“Alas! no,” replied Graceful, falling on his knees; "but
when I have failed I have been punished by my remorse
even more than by the hard trials through which.I have
passed. Forgive me, and punish me as I deserve, if I have
not yet expiated all my faults; but save her whom I love—
save my grandmother.”’
The door instantly opened wide, though Graceful saw
no one. Intoxicated with joy, he entered a courtyard
surrounded with arbors embowered in foliage, with a
fountain in the midst, spouting from a tuft of flowers larger,
more beautiful, and more fragrant than any he had seen
onearth. By the side of the spring stood a woman dressed
in white, of noble bearing, and seemingly not more than
forty years old. She advanced to meet Graceful, and
smiled on him so sweetly that the child felt himself touched
to the heart, and his eyes filled with tears.
" Dont you know me?" said the woman.
“Oh, grandmother! is it you?" he exclaimed. "How
came you In the Castle of Life?"
" My child," said she, pressing him to her heart, “He
who brought me here is an enchanter more powerful than
the fairies of the woods and the waters. I shall never
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