do you
come here of your own free will?"

"Yes," said Beauty, trembling.

"You are a good girl," said the Beast, and then, turning to the old
man, he told him that he might sleep there for that night, but in the
morning he must go and leave his daughter behind him.

They went to bed and slept soundly, and the next morning the father
departed, weeping bitterly.

Beauty, left alone, tried not to feel frightened. She ran here and
there through the palace, and found it more beautiful than anything
she had ever imagined.

The most beautiful set of rooms in the palace had written over the
doors, "Beauty's Rooms," and in them she found books and music,
canary-birds and Persian cats, and everything that could be thought of
to make the time pass pleasantly.

"Oh, dear!" she said; "if only I could see my poor father I should be
almost happy."

As she spoke, she happened to look at a big mirror, and in it she saw
the form of her father reflected, just riding up to the door of his
cottage.

That night, when Beauty sat down to supper, the Beast came in.

"May I have supper with you?" said he.

"That must be as you please," said Beauty.

So the Beast sat down to supper with her, and when it was finished, he
said:

"I am very ugly, Beauty, and I am very stupid, but I love you; will
you marry me?"

"No, Beast," said Beauty gently.

The poor Beast sighed and went away.

And every night the same thing happened. He ate his supper with her,
and then asked her if she would marry him. And she always said, "No,
Beast."

All this time she was waited on by invisible hands, as though she had
been a queen. Beautiful music came to her ears without her being able
to see the musicians, but the magic looking-glass was best of all, for
in it she could see whatever she wished. As the days went by, and her
slightest wish was granted, almost before she knew what she wanted,
she began to feel that the Beast must love her very dearly, and she
was very sorry to see how sad he looked every night when she said "No"
to his offer of marriage.

One day, she saw in her mirror that her father was ill, so that night
she said to the Beast:

"Dear Beast, you are so good to me, will you let me go home to see
my father? He is ill, and he thinks that I am dead. Do let me go and
cheer him up, and I will promise faithfully to return to you."

"Very well," said the Beast kindly, "but don't stay away more than
a week, for if you do, I shall die