fidence, and every day went to pray at the tombs of his four wives. At
this time there was an assembly at Rennes of the Breton Princes, which
Comorre was obliged to attend. Before his departure, he gave Triphyna the
keys, desiring her to amuse herself in his absence. After five months he
unexpectedly returned, and found her occupied in trimming an infant's cap
with gold lace. On seeing the cap, Comorre turned pale; and when Triphyna
joyfully announced to him that in two months he would be a father, he drew
back in a rage and rushed out of the apartment. Triphyna saw that her ring
had turned black, which betokened danger, she knew not why. She descended
into the chapel to pray; when she rose to depart it was midnight, and she
saw the four tombs of Comorre's wives open slowly, and they all issued
forth in their winding-sheets. Half dead with fear, Triphyna tried to
escape; but the spectres cried, "Take care, poor lost one! Comorre seeks
to kill you." "I," says the Countess, "what evil have I done?"--"You have
told him that you will soon become a mother; and, through the Spirit of
Evil, he knows that his child will kill him, and that is why he has
murdered us, when we told him what he has just learned from you." "What
hope then of escape remains for me," cried Triphyna."--"Go back to your
father," answered the phantoms. "But how escape when Comorre's dog guards
the court?"--"Give him this poison which killed me," said the first wife."
"But how can I descend this high wall?"--"By means of this cord which
strangled me," answered the second wife. "But who will guide me through
the dark?"--"The fire which burnt me," replied the third wife. "And how can
I make so long a journey?" returned Triphyna.--"Take this stick which broke
my skull," rejoined the fourth spectre. Armed with these weapons, Triphyna
sets out, silences the dog, scales the wall, sees her way through the
darkness, and proceeds on her road to Vannes. On awakening next morning,
Comorre finds his wife fled, and pursues her on horseback. The poor
fugitive, seeing her ring turn black, turned off the road and hid herself
till night in the cabin of a shepherd, where was only an old magpie in a
cage at the door. Comorre, who had given up the pursuit, was returning
home that road, when he heard the magpie trying to imitate her complaints,
and calling out "Poor Triphyna!" he therefore knew his wife had passed
that way, and set his dog on the track. Meanwhile, Triphyna felt s