ed
the palace. His heart beat, for a last trial remained. So near
success, he feared the more to fail. He mounted the steps of the
castle. All was closed and silent; no one was there to receive the
traveler. When he had reached the last step and was about to knock at
the door, a voice, rather gentle than harsh, stopped him.

"Have you loved?" said the invisible voice.

"Yes," answered Graceful; "I have loved my grandmother better than any
one in the world."

The door opened a little way.

"Have you suffered for her whom you have loved?" resumed the voice.

"I have suffered," replied Graceful; "much through my own fault,
doubtless, but a little for her whom I wished to save."

The door opened half-way and the child caught a glimpse of woods,
waters, and a sky more beautiful than anything of which he had ever
dreamed.

"Have you always done your duty?" said the voice, in a harsher tone.

"Alas! no," replied Graceful, falling on his knees; "but when I have
failed I have been punished by my remorse even more than by the hard
trials through which I have passed. Forgive me, and punish me as I
deserve, if I have not yet expiated all my faults; but save her whom I
love--save my grandmother."

The door instantly opened wide, though Graceful saw no one.
Intoxicated with joy, he entered a courtyard surrounded with arbors
embowered in foliage, with a fountain in the midst, spouting from a
tuft of flowers larger, more beautiful, and more fragrant than any he
had seen on earth. By the side of the spring stood a woman dressed in
white, of noble bearing, and seemingly not more than forty years old.
She advanced to meet Graceful, and smiled on him so sweetly that the
child felt himself touched to the heart, and his eyes filled with
tears.

"Don't you know me?" said the woman.

"Oh, grandmother! is it you?" he exclaimed. "How came you in the
Castle of Life?"

"My child," said she, pressing him to her heart, "He who brought me
here is an enchanter more powerful than the fairies of the woods and
the waters. I shall never more return to Salerno. I shall receive my
reward here for the little good I have done by tasting a happiness
which time will not destroy."

"And me, grandmother!" cried Graceful, "what shall become of me? After
seeing you here, how can I return to suffer alone?"

"My dear child," she replied, "no one can live on earth after he has
caught a glimpse of the celestial delights of this abode. You have
lived