At last she came to the very forge where Teddy was, but he had drawn
back behind the stone archway and she did not see him. Gliding to the
anvil, she stretched out her white finger and laid it upon the link that
the dwarfs had made, and instantly, as soon as she touched it, the iron
flew into pieces with a clink.

The dwarfs burst into a low wail, but the woman with the crown struck
her hands together and stamped her foot in a rage. "Fools! fools!" she
cried. "Not yet one link that will not fly into pieces at a touch. But
you shall make the chain, though it should take your very hearts to do
it."

Then, still scowling until her beautiful face was like a thunder-cloud,
and without a single glance at the trembling dwarfs, she glided from the
forge and was gone.

The dwarf who held the pincers drew his arm across his forehead to wipe
off the sweat. "Come," said he, "let us set to work, for now it's all to
be done over again."

"But tell me first," said Teddy, "what does this all mean, and who is
this woman with a crown who comes and breaks your links with a touch as
soon as you have finished them?"

"Ah! that is a long, sad story," said the dwarf who held the pincers.

"Yes, it is a long, sad story," echoed the others. "You tell him,
Leatherkin," they added.