Page 101 - Adventures in shadow-land

“ Has she no choice?" another asked. “ Could

she not, if she chose, remain with us, instead of
exposing herself to the dangers through which she

must pass?"
“ I would rather go ," Eva began, **if I may

choose."
“ You are right,5' the first one who had spoken

went on. “ It is your fate, and," using, as Eva
remembered, words that Aster had spoken long

before, and which seemed to be a proverb among
the elves and fairies, " it will be, because it must

b e."
And then Eva heard, above the voices of the
children and mingling with them, the words

which had come to her along the waters of the

brook, but spoken this time more plaintively than
ever;
“ E va! Eval help me 1”

And the children heard, for they said:
*
“ You will not hear those words after you leave

our valley. For, in the region through which
you must pass, Aster's friends have no power;
you will have to depend wholly upon yourself.

A n d "—as the waters of the little brook, by whose