ing rosier and plumper each
day. But when his eyes rested on the woman, they took on a look which
seemed to say 'I knew it,' though this neither the charcoal-burner nor
his wife ever noticed.

'Why are you so silent?' asked the man one morning when dinner had
passed before his wife had uttered one word. 'A little while ago you
used to be chattering all the day long, and now I have almost forgotten
the sound of your voice.'

'Oh, nothing; I did not feel inclined to talk, that was all!' She
stopped, and added carelessly after a pause, 'Don't you ever wonder what
is in that soup-tureen?'

'No, never,' replied the man. 'It is no affair of ours,' and the
conversation dropped once more, but as time went on, the woman spoke
less and less, and seemed so wretched that her husband grew quite
frightened about her. As to her food, she refused one thing after
another.

'My dear wife,' said the man at last, 'you really must eat something.
What in the world is the matter with you? If you go on like this you
will die.'

'I would rather die than not know what is in that tureen,' she burst
forth so violently that the husband was quite startled.

'Is that it?' cried he; 'are you making yourself miserable because of
that? Why, you know we should be turned out of the palace, and sent away
to starve.'

'Oh no, we shouldn't. The king is too good-natured. Of course he didn't
mean a little thing like this! Besides, there is no need to lift the lid
off altogether. Just raise one corner so that I may peep. We are quite
alone: nobody will ever know.'

The man hesitated: it did seem a 'little thing,' and if it was to make
his wife contented and happy it was well worth the risk. So he took
hold of the handle of the cover and raised it very slowly and carefully,
while the woman stooped down to peep. Suddenly she startled back with a
scream, for a small mouse had sprung from the inside of the tureen, and
had nearly hit her in the eye. Round and round the room it ran, round
and round they both ran after it, knocking down chairs and vases in
their efforts to catch the mouse and put it back in the tureen. In the
middle of all the noise the door opened, and the mouse ran out between
the feet of the king. In one instant both the man and his wife were
hiding under the table, and to all appearance the room was empty.

'You may as well come out,' said the king, 'and hear what I have to
say.'

'I know what it is,' answered the charcoal-burner, ha