heavy sigh.

But even as he spoke, he chanced to turn his eyes towards the sea.
Beyond the moon he saw a pure white cloud drifting down the sky. To
Oscar's fancy it took on the likeness of a female form--the form of
someone whom he knew and loved. She seemed to beckon him to a far-off
country, whither Kanker could not come, and where he would be free.

'Yes, I will follow her!' Oscar thought; and, in some way, he slipped
from where he was, and left the cottage and Kanker behind him, and
went down towards the ocean.

Kanker did not at first know that Oscar had escaped, for he had left
something behind which resembled him, but was not really he. The next
morning, when the sun peeped as usual into the crystal vase, neither
Oscar nor Kanker were to be seen. But, in the pearl shell, where
formerly Theeda had lived, sat a great ugly crab, twiddling its huge
red claws, and peering this way and that with its malicious little
eyes, which stuck far out of its head. Oscar was not in the cottage,
nor on the shore, nor has he, from that day to this, ever reappeared
there. But, if you should ever happen to visit the place, you will
hear the waves murmur mysteriously to one another, as they gambol
along the beach; and since they come from that far-off line where the
world meets the sky, they may possibly know more about Oscar and
Theeda than people like Kanker would be apt to believe.

THE END.

_Spottiswoode & Co., Printers, New-street Square, London._

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Yellow-Cap and Other Fairy-Stories For
Children, by Julian Hawthorne

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