his poor children.

He went back to the room where he had slept. He found there a large
number of gold pieces, and with these he filled the box the Beast had
mentioned. Having closed the latter, he took his horse, which was still
in the stable, and set forth from the palace, as melancholy now as he
had been joyous when he entered it.

The horse of its own accord took one of the forest roads, and in a few
hours the good man reached his own little house. His children crowded
round him, but at sight of them, instead of welcoming their caresses, he
burst into tears. In his hand was the bunch of roses which he had
brought for Beauty, and he gave it to her with these words:

'Take these roses, Beauty; it is dearly that your poor father will have
to pay for them.'

Thereupon he told his family of the dire adventure which had befallen
him. On hearing the tale the two elder girls were in a great commotion,
and began to upbraid Beauty for not weeping as they did. 'See to what
her smugness has brought this young chit,' they said; 'surely she might
strive to find some way out of this trouble, as we do! But oh, dear me,
no; her ladyship is so determined to be different that she can speak of
her father's death without a tear!'

'It would be quite useless to weep,' said Beauty. 'Why should I lament
my father's death? He is not going to die. Since the monster agrees to
accept a daughter instead, I intend to offer myself to appease his fury.
It will be a happiness to do so, for in dying I shall have the joy of
saving my father, and of proving to him my devotion.'

'No, sister,' said her three brothers; 'you shall not die; we will go in
quest of this monster, and will perish under his blows if we cannot kill
him.'

'Do not entertain any such hopes, my children,' said the merchant; 'the
power of this Beast is so great that I have not the slightest
expectation of escaping him. I am touched by the goodness of Beauty's
heart, but I will not expose her to death. I am old and have not much
longer to live; and I shall merely lose a few years that will be
regretted only on account of you, my dear children.'

'I can assure you, father,' said Beauty, 'that you will not go to this
palace without me. You cannot prevent me from following you. Although I
am young I am not so very deeply in love with life, and I would rather
be devoured by this monster than die of the grief which your loss would
cause me.' Words were useless. Beauty was quite