Page 163 - Adventures in shadow-land

(iI can tell you now,” he said, <(now that it is

ail nearly over, who T H E Y were of whom you used
to wonder tliat I spoke. The Green Frog and

her servants were the visible forms of they to
whom my punishment was committed. Yet, had

1 obeyed you,—which was part of my trial t™-you,
under whose care my friends, who advised you in
the shape of the toad and the Toad-Woman, were

allowed to place me, but little of this trouble
would have come upon me. If I failed in obedi­

ence £0 you,—such was the condition^-—if t h e y
gained the slightest hold upon me,—I must fall
wholly into their power, and then only* if you

really wj^hed it, could your Love have power to
overcome their Hate. And you know, Eva> how

I fell into their hands, ”
“ Yes, I know,” Eva said; “ but I do not yet

see why you crept into the crevice in the rock."
ft How could I help it?” Aster asked. il After

all I had done, and all that had happened before!
Because what must be, will be, and t h e y made me.”
“ And then, after you went into the rock?’'’ Eva

asked, eagerly. (< Remember, I know nothing of
that.”