replied Rudy, looking at Babette.
  "To-morrow I must return home," remarked Rudy a few minutesafterwards.
  "Come and visit us at Bex," whispered Babette; "my father willbe pleased to see you."
  V. ON THE WAY HOME
  Oh, what a number of things Rudy had to carry over themountains, when he set out to return home! He had three silver cups,two handsome pistols, and a silver coffee-pot. This latter would beuseful when he began housekeeping. But all these were not the heaviestweight he had to bear; something mightier and more important hecarried with him in his heart, over the high mountains, as hejourneyed homeward.
  The weather was dismally dark, and inclined to rain; the cloudshung low, like a mourning veil on the tops of the mountains, andshrouded their glittering peaks. In the woods could be heard the soundof the axe and the heavy fall of the trunks of the trees, as theyrolled down the slopes of the mountains. When seen from the heights,the trunks of these trees looked like slender stems; but on a nearerinspection they were found to be large and strong enough for the mastsof a ship. The river murmured monotonously, the wind whistled, and theclouds sailed along hurriedly.
  Suddenly there appeared, close by Rudy's side, a young maiden;he had not noticed her till she came quite near to him. She was alsogoing to ascend the mountain. The maiden's eyes shone with anunearthly power, which obliged you to look into them; they werestrange eyes,- clear, deep, and unfathomable.
  "Hast thou a lover?" asked Rudy; all his thoughts were naturallyon love just then.
  "I have none," answered the maiden, with a laugh; it was as if shehad not spoken the truth.
  "Do not let us go such a long way round," said she. "We mustkeep to the left; it is much shorter."
  "Ah, yes," he replied; "and fall into some crevasse. Do youpretend to be a guide, and not know the road better than that?"
  "I know every step of the way," said she; "and my thoughts arecollected, while yours are down in the valley yonder. We shouldthink of the Ice Maiden while we are up here; men say she is notkind to their race."
  "I fear her not," said Rudy. "She could not keep me when I was achild; I will not give myself up to her now I am a man."
  Darkness came on, the rain fell, and then it began to snow, andthe whiteness dazzled the eyes.
  "Give me your hand," said the maiden; "I will help you tomount." And he felt the touch of her icy fingers.
  "You help me," cried Rudy; "I do not yet require a woman to helpme to climb." And he stepped quickly forwards away from her.
  The drifting snow-shower fell like a veil between them, the windwhistled, and behind him he could hear the maiden laughing andsinging, and the sound was most strange to hear.
  "It certainly must be a spectre or a servant of the Ice Maiden,"thought Rudy, who had heard such things talked about when he was alittle boy, and had stayed all night on the mountain with the guides.
  The snow fell thicker than ever, the clouds lay beneath him; helooked back, there was no one to be seen, but he heard sounds ofmocking laughter, which were not those of a human voice.
  When Rudy at length reached the highest part of the mountain,where the path led down to the valley of the Rhone, the snow hadceased, and in the clear heavens he saw two bright stars twinkling.They reminded him of Babette and of himself, and of his futurehappiness, and his heart glowed at the thought.
  VI. THE VISIT TO THE MILL
  "What beautiful things you have brought home!"