Chapter II
The fairy appeared, and said:
"Four of the gifts remain. Choose once more; and oh, remember--time isflying, and only one of them is precious."
The man considered long, then chose Love; and did not mark the tearsthat rose in the fairy's eyes.
After many, many years the man sat by a coffin, in an empty home. And hecommuned with himself, saying: "One by one they have gone away and leftme; and now she lies here, the dearest and the last. Desolation afterdesolation has swept over me; for each hour of happiness the treacheroustrader, Love, has sold me I have paid a thousand hours of grief. Out ofmy heart of hearts I curse him."