"
"How very badly you have treated her!" said the wise woman. "Poor
child!"
"Treated her badly?" gasped the king.
"She is a very wicked child," said the queen; and both glared with
indignation.
"Yes, indeed!" returned the wise woman. "She is very naughty indeed,
and that she must be made to feel; but it is half your fault too."
"What!" stammered the king. "Haven't we given her every mortal thing
she wanted?"
"Surely," said the wise woman: "what else could have all but killed
her? You should have given her a few things of the other sort. But
you are far too dull to understand me."
"You are very polite," remarked the king, with royal sarcasm on his
thin, straight lips.
The wise woman made no answer beyond a deep sigh; and the king and
queen sat silent also in their anger, glaring at the wise woman. The
silence lasted again for a minute, and then the wise woman folded
her cloak around her, and her shining garment vanished like the moon
when a great cloud comes over her. Yet another minute passed and the
silence endured, for the smouldering wrath of the king and queen
choked the channels of their speech.
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