our hearts expand with love to Him for His goodness, and our lives run over in deeds of thanksgiving and of charity, which should spring up as flowers beneath our feet along the valley of life!--Ah! who speaks? Methought no living thing but the singing birds shared with me this rugged, solitary spot." He turned hastily and saw, peering out from behind some rough thorn bushes, an old woman, whose tottering form, clothed in ragged garments, withered countenance, and leering eyes presented a somewhat startling spectacle, thus bursting suddenly upon him. With one hand the old hag grasped a stout knotted stick, with which she supported her trembling limbs, while with the other she pushed away the brambles, and suddenly grasped the chaplain's arm. "Who are you," she muttered, "that dares to track me to my hiding-place, which is known to no man but him to whom I choose to reveal it? You have come to spy out the source of the river, which is my secret, which I guard night and day, and choose not that every mortal eye should look upon. I know well how to terrify away those whom I will not to find the secret springs--but you--as my eye saw you from behind these thorns, my spirit quailed for sudden fear of you, for you are the 'lily-knight,' whose eyes are ever fixed on Heaven, where He dwells whom I dare not name! I know you and I fear you, but you shall fear me too. When I let loose the springs into the valley, then you shall tremble! Then woe, woe to the boatman and his bridge in which he vaunts himself, and woe to you, lily-knight, and to her you love! The boatman scoffs and heeds not my warnings, but the day will come." She stopped, breathless; then seizing Percival's hand, suddenly changed her tone, and whispered: "A silver coin, good sir, and I will read the lines for you truly--or a bit of bright red gold, and maybe somewhat of the ill I see may not come to pass!" "Nay, my good woman," said the chaplain, "my fortune is in God's keeping, and it is He who 'holds the waters in the hollow of His hand, and metes them out whithersoever He will.' I fear not your warnings, nor would have you fear me, but rather make of me a friend who may lead you to seek a higher Master than him you now serve. I come not to pry into your secrets, having had no knowledge of your dwelling here in the mountain; yet, since you have revealed yourself, will you not suffer me to see further into your hiding-place, that I may tell whether a silver coin left in your keeping may procure you some greater comfort?" The old hag's eyes glistened, and still keeping a tight hold upon his arm, she dragged him after her into her thorny retreat, where, as the bushes closed behind them, an open space in the thicket lay before them, in the midst of which rose up a steep wall of rock, towering upwards to a great height, and breaking away, on the side which faced them, into a deep, yawning cavern, which evidently, as Percival saw by peering into its dark depths, led