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PUT TO 2HE TEST. 185
hnmblv, yet not with any great willingness and
; rising
she approached the yonth, who, smiling in his subtle
fashion, threw the cloak across her shoulders; but no
sooner had it rested there, than with a crackling, rending
noise it in split twenty places from top to bottom, each
strip curling and writhing like a serpent, so that the lady,
screaming loudly, threw it from her, crying, " It is alive !
it stings! it chokes me !"
- My cloak is but of silk and gold.
And cannot sting, fair dame ;
It is the falsehoods you have told
That bring you now to shame 1 "
said the boy quietly, taking the mantle from the ground,
shaking it, and showing
it whole and perfect as before.
" There is a trick about it. The varlet has contrived
this trick to put us all to shame " exclaimed Vivien
!
"
passionately. Here, boy, give it me in mine own hands,
and let me see if I can not wear it without such mischance."
Without reply the boy held out the mantle, and the
lady, one of the most beautiful and least beloved of the
whole court, took it, and carrying it to a little distance
from him, threw it lightly about her ;
but at that very
instant the mantle broke or seemed to break into a sudden
flame, and blazing upward, surrounded Vivien's head
with fire, so that, shrieking and stamping, she tore the
cloak from her shoulders, while every one rose in con-