She in her innocence would have ex]:)ressed her love for him, but he repelled her gently, saying: "When you sle^^t, I came and put a crown of gems on vour head; that was because I was in the power of the earth S]:)irit. Then I had power only o\'er tlie element of fire, that either consumes or hardens to Stone, but now water and life are mine. Behold! wear these, for you are worthy." Then he touched the tears that fell from the girl's eyes and the}' turned into lilies in his hands, and he placed them upon her brow. He told her that, having left heaven for love of man, passing through the ordeal of the fire, he was liberated by her mother's act and took a child's form. He rehearsed his trials, his love for her, the danger he encountered of becoming again an earth

Around Haverstraw Bay 303

spirit. While they con\-ersed, Hugo and his followers burst upon them. ^Misunderstanding his daughter's agitation, the old man in a rage ordered his followers to seize the stranger and fling him into the furnace. What the girl saw, when this inhuman decree had been obeyed, was a form clad in robes of sih'er float from the furnace and drift upward into the night. It is said that that sight brought peace to her soul and serenity to her countenance, which is hardh' less strange than all the other incidents of this marvellous tale.

Chapter XVIII The Storming of Stony Point