"God be praised!" ejaculated her auditor.

"My father was the lord of the hamlet of Rheidt, a little above
Luelsdorf, and I lived there in peace and happiness during my girlish
days. I had nothing to desire, as every wish was gratified by him as
soon as it was formed. However, as I grew to womanhood I felt that my
happiness had departed. I knew not whither it had gone, or why, but
gone it was. I felt restless, melancholy, wretched. I wanted, in
short, something to love, but that I found out since. Well, one day a
merry-making took place in the village, and every one was present at
it. We danced on the green sward which stretches to the margin of the
river; for that day I forgot my secret grief, and was among the gayest
of the gay. They made me the queen of the feast, and I had the homage
of all. As the sun was going down in glory in the far west, melting
the masses of clouds into liquid gold, a stranger of a noble mien
appeared in the midst of our merry circle. He was garbed in green from
head to heel, and seemed to have crossed the river, for the hem of his
rich riding-cloak was dripping with wet. No one knew him, no one cared
to inquire who he was, and his presence rather awed than rejoiced us.
He was, however, a stranger, and he was welcome. When I tell you that
stranger is my husband, you may imagine the rest. When the dance then
on foot was ended, he asked my hand. I could not refuse it if I would,
but I would not if I could. He was irresistible. We danced and danced
until the earth seemed to reel around us. I could perceive, however,
even in the whirl of tumultuous delight which forced me onward, that
we neared the water's edge in every successive figure. We stood at
length on the verge of the stream. The current caught my dress, the
villagers shrieked aloud, and rushed to rescue me from the river.

"'Follow!' said my partner, plunging as he spoke into the foaming
flood.

"I followed. Since then I have lived with him here. It is now a
century since, but he has communicated to me a portion of his own
immortality, and I know not age, neither do I dread death any longer.
He is good and kind to me, though fearful to others. The only cause of
complaint I have is his invariable custom of destroying every babe to
which I give birth on the third day after my delivery. He says it is
for my sake, and for their sakes, that he does so, and he knows best."

She sighed heavily as she said this.

"And now," resumed the lady