"Very well," said Isis, "you may speak to the Bridge, as you go to meet those nauseous salt rivers; I hate them, they are so rough and roar so when they are angry. I will see what I can learn nearer home, at the Universities; there are plenty of doctors there." "You had better call at Sion House, too, and Richmond." "To be sure, that I will; there--where fair queens have fretted and have mourned, where noble ladies have dwelt and wept--they must know something of this strange disease, called Love, for I really fear that is Aquarella's disorder." "Nonsense! where could she get that complaint?" "On earth, to be sure. It is very prevalent there, and I am told it is infectious; we can but ask, you know." The two anxious parents now separated, Isis remaining impatiently till old Thames's return from his sea visit allowed her to proceed on her inland course. They gained but little information at any of the places they had mentioned, as, though such things had occasionally happened in Greece, the case was quite new to all the sages here. Aquarella was the first English fairy who had been known to die of love for a mortal. This low attachment of hers made her friends very unhappy, and at last they summoned her godfather Aquarius. As he was the god of all the rivers, and a very high personage, there was a great deal of ceremony in his reception, and he came to the bed of Thames in a special train of thunder, lightning, and rain, accompanied by his friend Boreas. This high honor made the old couple so proud, that they spread out their waters to make room for him, till they even covered their banks, and frightened all who lived near them. Aquarius, from his long experience and intimate acquaintance with lady-rivers of all nations, was quite the most proper person to treat with the poor fairy. He did not scold, rough as he was, for he knew scolding was of no good in her complaint; he reasoned with her, but that was scarce more efficient. "Do you know, child, that to marry this mortal, you must take his religion?" "And is not that better than ours, your Mightiness?" "Give up your immortality?" "And gain his. Ours must cease with this world; his can never end." "But it may be an immortality of grief?" "Not unless we deserve it, and we will not. I learned much, your Mightiness, while washing the walls of a little chapel, by whose side I flow." "You must relinquish your high privileges." "What are they, without love?" "Aquarella, you are mad! Do you know what the life of a mortal woman is?" "Oh, yes. Have I not watched Albert's mother? I know how she spends her days; in providing comforts for son and husband, in instructing the ignorant, in relieving the poor, in doing good to all. Hers is indeed a happy and useful life." "And suppose Albert should not love you?" "I could still watch over him." "Suppose he should become poor--should fall from his high estate?" "I would work for, and comfort him."