ashamed of her words, she hid her face in her hands.

As the knight went on with his story, his face was grave.

'It is true,' he said, 'that Bertalda was a lovely maiden, yet as I
knew her better I found her ways were cold and proud. She pleased me
less as the days passed by, though, as she looked upon me with favour,
I begged that as a token of it she would give me a glove.

"You shall have it," answered she, "if you will go alone through the
forest which men say is haunted, and bring me tidings of all that
happens to you."

'I cared little for her glove, but I would not tarry to be asked a
second time to go through the forest, lest the maiden should doubt my
courage.'

'I thought Bertalda had loved you,' cried Undine, 'yet then had she
not driven you from her into the haunted forest.'

The knight smiled at the maiden's words and went on with his tale.

'It was but yesterday morning that I set forth on my adventure. The
sun shone bright, so bright that it was not easy to believe that evil
was lurking in the shadows beneath the rustling leaves. "I shall soon
return," I said to myself, as I plunged into the green shade.

'But amid the maze of trees it was not long ere I lost sight of the
path by which I had entered the wood.