The waves were foaming angrily round the little boat, and the red glare from the open portals of the iron gate looked like an angry sunset, but still Lanis felt no fear. After a time the red glare died away, and now on every side of him was a soft golden light, while the waves beneath the boat were of a delicate blue, and the sky above of the same soft tint. Lanis looked around, and saw a soft green shore, to which his boat drifted gently, and he sprang out on to the yellow sand of the beach. As he did so, his travel-worn clothes fell off him, and he found himself arrayed in a long white robe. A tall man, also in a white robe, approached, and, smiling gently on Lanis, gave him a golden harp. “Is this my old harp?” asked Lanis, taking it. “No; it is better than the old harp.” “Is it for sorrow-singing?” “Nay; it is for songs of joy.” “And is this Faeryland?” “Nay; it is a nobler place than Faeryland.” “Is it The Kingdom of Shadows?” “So we called it on earth, but now we know it as the Kingdom of Eternal Light.” Lanis looked at the tall man as he said this, and saw it was the old king he had helped—now no longer old and frail, but in the prime of life. “You are the King!” he cried gladly. “Yes, I was the King. You pointed out my duty to me, and I did it; otherwise I never would have reached here.” “And the Princess?” “Is quite happy,” replied the King. “She rules my realm with her husband, and both are wise.” “Have you found happiness?” asked Lanis. “Yes!—and so will you, when you strike your harp,” answered the King. Lanis struck the golden strings of his harp, and immediately all his weariness and sorrow passed away, and he felt glad and joyful. At the sound of the music, he changed from an old man into a noble-looking youth—the same Lanis who had sung to the King. “Ah, I have indeed found happiness,” he cried; “but still, I feel I want something more.” “I know what you want,” said the King. “Look!” And Lanis, looking up, saw his mother, with a calm expression of joy upon her face, coming towards him, with outstretched arms. All the white-robed spirits around struck their golden harps and sang the most beautiful songs that were ever heard, while mother and son embraced, and far off the palace of the great King shone like a bright star. Lanis also struck his harp, and, with the earthly monarch and his mother, went singing onward through the lovely fields, to kneel before the King, who had thus drawn him onward, through sorrow and sadness, to find his happiness at length in the land which we mortals call the Kingdom of Shadows but which wise men know as the Kingdom of Eternal Light. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE GOLDEN GOBLIN I. RING MAGIC.