ed his hand to the fair-haired lady, who accepted him
as her attendant on the spot, and gave him her bouquet to hold as a
special mark of favor.

Before the evening was over there was another betrothed couple in the
castle. Yvon had pledged his faith to the unknown lady and Finette was
forgotten.

V

Poor Finette, seated on the seashore, waited all day long for Yvon,
but Yvon did not come. The sun was setting in the fiery waves when
Finette rose, sighing, and took the way to the castle in her turn. She
had not walked long in a steep road, bordered with thorn-trees in
blossom, when she found herself in front of a wretched hut at the door
of which stood an old woman about to milk her cow. Finette approached
her and, making a low courtesy, begged a shelter for the night.

The old woman looked at the stranger from head to foot. With her
buskins trimmed with fur, her full red petticoat, her blue jacket
edged with jet, and her diadem, Finette looked more like an Egyptian
princess than a Christian. The old woman frowned and, shaking her fist
in the face of the poor forsaken girl, "Begone, witch!" she cried;
"there is no room for you in this honest house."

"My good mother," said Finette, "give me only a corner of the stable."

"Oh," said the old woman, laughing and showing the only tooth she had
left, which projected from her mouth like a bear's tusk, "so you want
a corner of the stable, do you! Well, you shall have it if you will
fill my milk-pail with gold."

"It is a bargain," said Finette, quietly. She opened a leather purse
which she wore at her belt, took from it a golden bullet, and threw it
into the milk-pail, saying,

"Golden bullet, precious treasure,
Save me, if it be thy pleasure."

And behold! the pieces of gold began to dance about in the pail; they
rose higher and higher, flapping about like fish in a net, while the
old woman, on her knees, gazed with wonder at the sight.

[Illustration: SHE FOUND HERSELF IN FRONT OF A WRETCHED HUT AT THE
DOOR OF WHICH STOOD AN OLD WOMAN, OF WHOM SHE BEGGED SHELTER FOR THE
NIGHT]

When the pail was full the old woman rose, put her arm through the
handle, and said to Finette, "Madam, all is yours, the house, the cow,
and everything else. Hurrah! I am going to the town to live like a
lady with nothing to do. Oh dear, how I wish I were only sixty!" And,
shaking her crutch, without looking backward, she set out on a run
toward Kerver Castle.

Finette enter