“No!” returned Reinald; “let what may happen, I will not part from thee, dearest sister! It was to find thee I quitted our father’s castle, and now that I have accomplished this long-cherished object, I will not leave the forest without thee. Say, how can I break this potent spell?”
“Alas!” replied she, “’tis beyond mortal power to do so.”
Here Albert joined their conversation, and when he heard the young knight’s bold resolution, he urged him from his purpose in such affectionate terms, and so forcibly, that he at length yielded to the wishes of his brother-in-law, and the tears and entreaties of his tender sister, and consented to depart.
Prince Albert embraced the gallant youth with brotherly affection, and after the latter had fallen on his sister’s neck and bid her farewell, he drew out his pocket book and took from it three bear’s bristles, which he rolled up in a piece of paper and gave to the knight, as though for a kind of jocose memento of his adventure in the forest. “Yet do not despise this trifle,” he added earnestly; “should you ever be in desperate need of help, rub these three hairs between your hands and await the event.”
In the courtyard stood a handsome open carriage, drawn by six black horses, with outriders and footmen, in which Reinald reluctantly placed himself.
“Farewell, brother!” cried Albert the Bear.
