"'Rightly spoken; if we all did that, this world of ours would be a better and a nobler place; your duty! Fairly put; but had you no fear?' "'Fear,' repeated the boy, 'no, I had none; I never thought of fear, I never thought of danger; I only saw that the young knight was in jeopardy, and I did what I could to help him; I would have done the same for the simplest peasant boy that ever lived: I really mean it, noble sir.' "'I am sure you do; those eyes of yours were not meant for deceit, nor that voice for lying; you have done a noble action, and your words are worthy of it.' "So with that the knight relapsed into silence, and the procession went on its way. "The castle was a noble structure, and its gray battlemented turrets were soon in sight. George had often seen it before, but now he looked upon it with new and strange emotions. He was to enter; to ride over the clanking drawbridge, under the dark arch, and see—what he had often longed to see—the splendors which those walls shut in. So, on they rode into the broad court-yard, and then dismounted. "In the hall of the castle stood the Lady Adelaide, anxiously awaiting her lord's return. She was a fine, tall, handsome woman, clothed in costly attire; the jewels on her dress made George's heart tremble with surprise. "She threw her arms around her husband's neck and kissed him on both cheeks—tears were in her eyes—tears of joy, as she did so. "Tenderly she embraced her son, and then turning to George, inquired, not with words, but by a glance, how and why the boy was there, and the old soldier his companion. "'This noble lad,' said the knight, 'has done us both good service.' "The countess smiled upon the lad, and oh, that smile, it seemed better to him than all the guilders that the knight had given to him. "'Rendered us both good service,' repeated the knight, 'in rescuing Conrad from a violent death.' "The countess uttered a half-suppressed scream. "'He has slain an old enemy, and brought back an old friend.' "'An enemy,' said the countess, 'how is this: I cannot understand it?' "'Enemy enough, full surely,' said the knight, 'none other than the wolf!' "'Thank God for that!' "'Amen: but let us not forget the instrument He has used.' "So the knight told the whole story of the wolf's capture and death, not forgetting to mention how the lad had purchased a goat for his mother in place of the cow whom the wolf had slain, and how he had afterwards made a present of it to the old soldier, when his mother no longer required it. "The countess praised the boy for his courage; she thanked him again and again for having saved the life of her son, and said: "'I would that Conrad was more like you in his temper and disposition; it would be of greater honor to him than all the gold lace on his clothes.'