ithout so much as saying good-by.

"With a good deal of trouble the old man was brought into the house,
and made comfortable, but no sooner had he been placed upon the
woman's bed than he leaped to his feet and stood on the floor,
laughing.

"'I have fallen at a dozen doors to-day,' he cried, 'and this is the
first that has been opened to me.'

"'Well,' replied the woman, 'if we had known you were playing pranks
on us I don't think this door would have opened to you. We are having
too much trouble ourselves to pester with other people's troubles.'

"Then she went on to tell of the disappearance of the little girl she
used to nurse. The old man tried to get in a word of consolation, now
and then, but the woman talked too fast for that. But presently she
had told about all she had to tell.

"'See how it turns out!' cried the old man. 'How can it be accident
that brings to your door the only person in the world that can give
you any tidings of the little girl? I saw a child to-day some miles
from here who asked me to show her her nurse's house.'

"'Bless her dear little heart!' exclaimed the woman.

"'But she was in great danger,' said the old man. 'She was just about
to enter the domain of Rimrak.'

"'Ah, why didn't you bring her away with you?' cried the woman.

"'It is not permitted,' replied the old man. 'I did what I could. I
warned her not to drink of the waters of the spring nor to eat of the
pomegranate-seed. I could do no more.'

"'Oh, what will become of the dear child?' exclaimed the woman,
wringing her hands.

"'If she drinks of the waters of the spring,' responded the old man,
'or eats of the pomegranate-seed, she will fall into a deep sleep.
Then will come Rimrak, the Conjurer, and convey her to his cave, and
there she will be held captive until she forgets she is a captive, or
until she has been rescued by some bold youth who loves her well
enough to remember the color of her eyes.'

"'I remember! I remember!' cried the woman's handsome son.

"'Be not too sure,' replied the old man. 'Sit down and think it over.'

"'No need for that,' said the boy. 'Her eyes once seen can never be
forgotten.'

"'Oho!' exclaimed the old man. 'Then perhaps you can tell me the color
of the little girl's eyes?'

"'Certainly,' said the boy. 'They are brown when she lifts them to
your face and dark when she looks away from you.'

"The old man nodded his head with a greater display of good humor than
he had yet