Marvel was gone from
their midst, and a handsome, slender-limbed deer darted from the bower
and was quickly lost in the thick forest. On the ground lay a sheet of
bark and a twig from a tree, and beside them was Lady Seseley's white
velvet cloak.

Then the three girls each drew a long breath and looked into one
another's eyes, and, while thus engaged, a peal of silvery laughter
sounded in their ears and made them spring quickly to their feet.

Before them stood a tiny and very beautiful fairy, clothed in floating
gossamer robes of rose and pearl color, and with eyes sparkling like
twin stars.

"Prince Marvel!" exclaimed the three, together.

"No, indeed!" cried the fairy, with a pretty little pout. "I am no one
but myself; and, really, I believe I shall now be content to exist for
a few hundred years in my natural form. I have quite enjoyed my year
as a mortal; but after all there are, I find, some advantages in being
a fairy. Good by, my dears!"

And with another ripple of laughter the pretty creature vanished, and
the girls were left alone.

27. A Hundred Years Afterward

About a hundred years after Prince Marvel enjoyed his strange
adventures in the Enchanted Island of Yew an odd thing happened.

A hidden mirror in a crumbling old castle of Dawna broke loose from its
fastenings and fell crashing on the stone pavement of the deserted
hall. And from amid the ruins rose the gigantic form of a man. His
hair and beard were a fiery red, and he gazed at the desolation around
him in absolute amazement.

It was the Red Rogue of Dawna, set free from his imprisonment.

He wandered out and found strange scenes confronting him, for during
the hundred years a great change had taken place in the Enchanted
Island. Great cities had been built and great kingdoms established.
Civilization had won the people, and they no longer robbed or fought or
indulged in magical arts, but were busily employed and leading
respectable lives.

When the Red Rogue tried to tell folks who he was, they but laughed at
him, thinking the fellow crazy. He tried to get together a band of
thieves, as Wul-Takim had done in the old days, but none would join him.

And so, forced to be honest against his will, the Rogue was driven to
earn a living by digging in the garden of a wealthy noble, of whom he
had never before heard.

But often he would pause in his labors and lean on his spade, while
thoughts of the old days of wild adventur