itself before him and said:

"Go to the tomb of your wife and strike it with your pick; the earth
will turn aside and you will behold her lying in her shroud. Take this
little silver box, which contains a rose; open it and pass it before
her nostrils three times, when she will awake as if from a deep
sleep."

La Rose hastened to the tomb of his wife, and everything happened as
the phantom had predicted. He placed the box containing the rose to
his wife's nostrils and she awoke with a sigh, saying: "Ah, I have
been asleep for a long time." Her husband provided her with clothes
which he had brought with him, and they returned to their house, much
to the joy of his parents.

Some time afterward La Rose's father died at a great age, and the
grief-stricken mother was not long in following him to the grave. La
Rose wrote to his brother in Paris to return to Brittany in order to
receive his portion of the paternal inheritance, but he was unable to
leave the capital, so La Rose had perforce to journey to Paris. He
promised his wife before leaving that he would write to her every
day, but on his arrival in the city he found his brother very ill, and
in the anxiety of nursing him back to health he quite forgot to send
his wife news of how he fared.

The weeks passed and La Rose's wife, without word of her husband,
began to dread that something untoward had happened to him. Day by day
she sat at her window weeping and watching for the courier who brought
letters from Paris. A regiment of dragoons chanced to be billeted in
the town, and the captain, who lodged at the inn directly opposite La
Rose's house, was greatly attracted by the young wife. He inquired of
the landlady who was the beautiful dame who sat constantly weeping at
her window, and learned the details of her history. He wrote a letter
to her purporting to come from La Rose's brother in Paris, telling her
that her husband had died in the capital, and some time after paid his
addresses to the supposed widow, who accepted him. They were married,
and when the regiment left the town the newly wedded pair accompanied
it.

Meanwhile La Rose's brother recovered from his illness, and the eager
husband hastened back to Brittany. But when he arrived at his home he
was surprised to find the doors closed, and was speedily informed of
what had occurred during his absence. For a while he was too
grief-stricken to act, but, recovering himself somewhat, he resolved
to enlist in