would only reach her father's palace a lifeless
corpse. No; he must not die! She swam to and fro among the drifting
spars, forgetting that they might crush her with their weight; she
dived and rose again, and reached the prince just when he felt that he
could swim no longer in the stormy sea. His arms were beginning to
fail him, his beautiful eyes were closed; in another moment he must
have sunk, had not the little mermaid come to his aid. She kept his
head above water, and let the waves carry them whither they would."

Letty didn't want Allerton's life to be in danger, but she would have
loved saving it. She fell to pondering possible conditions in which
she could perform this feat, while he ran no risk whatever.

"The next day the storm was over; not a spar of the ship was left in
sight. The sun rose red and glowing upon the waves, and seemed to pour
down new life upon the prince, though his eyes remained closed. The
little mermaid kissed his fair white forehead and stroked back his wet
hair. He was like the marble statue in her little garden, she thought.
She kissed him again, and prayed that he might live."

Letty saw herself seated somewhere in a mead, Allerton lying
unconscious with his head in her lap, though the circumstances that
brought them so together remained vague.

"Suddenly the dry land came in sight before her, high blue mountains
on whose peaks the snow lay white, as if a flock of swans had settled
there. On the coast below were lovely green woods, and close on shore
a building of some kind, the mermaid didn't know whether it was church
or cloister. Citrons and orange trees grew in the garden, and before
the porch were stately palm trees. The sea ran in here and formed a
quiet bay, unruffled, but very deep. The little mermaid swam with the
prince to the white sandy shore, laid him on the warm sand, taking
care that his head was left where the sun shone warmest. Bells began
to chime and ring through all parts of the building, and several young
girls entered the garden. The little mermaid swam farther out, behind
a tiny cliff that rose above the waves. She showered sea-foam on her
hair that no one might see its golden glory, and then waited patiently
to see if anyone would come to the aid of the young prince."

To Letty that was the heart-breaking part of the story, the leaving
the beloved one to others. It was what she and the little mermaid had
in common, unless she too could get rid of her fish's