shoes and stockings were. Then she saw that her own were much torn and
soiled, and looking down the street, was mortified to trace her way
along by the muddy footprints she had left on the fair white
marble. She went to Greta's mother, and asked permission to wash her
stockings and clean her shoes. But she did not know how to do it
nicely, and they still looked very badly. "Clean bare feet would look
better than such shoes and stockings," said the mother.

"But I could not have bare feet and a crown," answered Rosamond.

"O, is it a crown? Excuse me, I thought it was a snake skin."

Rosamond half smiled, but said sadly, "It seems like a snake, it
stings me so sharply."

"You must go to Father Alter. A lady once came here with a jewelled
girdle which was clasping her to death. He sent her to a fountain high
among the mountains, and she returned in a white dress with a girdle
of wild flowers. She lived with me, and kept a school for
children. She was a lovely lady."

This reminded Rosamond of the priest, and she asked Greta to show her
where Father Alter lived.

She found him sitting in his garden of herbs among poor people who
were waiting for comfort and advice, and Rosamond also had to wait. At
length he turned to her, and laying his hand gently upon her golden
head, said, "I see what you want, my child. You must bathe your
forehead in the fountain, that the weight of this stone may be taken
from it."