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“Be silent, idiots, and come round me again; that foolish Timidity has given me a fright. The first who speaks shall be put in the dark cupboard.” After this awful threat came the silence of death.
“Well, and what would you do here, little one?” said the Lord of Fear, in the interval between two shivering fits.
“By the Shrine of St. Landri,” said Mitaine, clapping her hands on her hips, “it must be admitted you have a strange way of receiving your guests. I have shrunk from nothing in order that I might see you, and my perseverance deserves a better return.”
“You do not answer my question. Why do you come here?”
“To drive you away.”
On hearing these words the Lord of Fear shrank into himself until you would have thought that half of him had disappeared, and Dame Coward sank back into her chair, behind which her daughters concealed themselves.
“Imprudent wretch!” stuttered Fear, shaking until he nearly fell. “How dare you defy me thus?”