ou, Elis Froebom, for, I say it again, I couldn't
wish for a better son-in-law.'

"Tears of joy and happiness ran down Elis's cheeks. The highest bliss
which his imagination had pictured had come to pass so suddenly and
unexpectedly that he could scarce believe it was anything but another
blissful dream. The workpeople came to dinner, by Dahlsjoe's
invitation, in honour of the event. Ulla had dressed in her prettiest
attire, and looked more charming than ever, so that they all cried,
over and over again, 'Ey! what a sweet and charming creature Elis has
got for a betrothed! May God bless them and make them happy!'

"Yet the terror of the past night still lay upon Elis's pale face, and
he often stared about him as if he were far away from all that was
going on round him. 'Elis, darling, what is the matter?' Ulla asked
anxiously. He pressed her to his heart and said, 'Yes, yes, you are my
own, and all is well.' But in the midst of all his happiness he often
felt as though an icy hand clutched at his heart, and a dismal voice
asked him,

"Is it your highest ideal, then, to be betrothed to Ulla? Wretched
fool! Have you not looked upon the face of the queen?'

"He felt himself overpowered by an indescribable, anxious alarm. He was
haunted and tortured by the thought that one of the workmen would
suddenly assume gigantic proportions, and to his horror he would
recognize in him Torbern, come to remind him, in a terrible manner, of
the subterranean realm of gems and metals to which he had devoted
himself.

"And yet he could see no reason why the spectral old man should be
hostile to him, or what connection there was between his mining work
and his love.

"Pehrson, seeing Elis's disordered condition, attributed it to the
trouble he had gone through, and his nocturnal visit to the mine. Not
so, Ulla, who, seized by a secret presentiment, implored her lover to
tell her what terrible thing had happened to him to tear him away from
her so entirely. This almost broke his heart. It was in vain that he
tried to tell her of the wonderful face which had revealed itself to
him in the depths of the mine. Some unknown power seemed to seal his
lips forcibly; he felt as though the terrible face of the queen were
looking out from his heart, so that if he mentioned her everything
about him would turn to stone, to dark, black rock, as at the sight of
the Medusa's frightful head. All the glory and magnificence which had
filled him with rap