"Well, father," added Matilda, "I must go to the woods."

"Must you?" said the baron; "I say you must not."

"But I am going," said Matilda

"But I will have up the drawbridge," said the baron.

"But I will swim the moat," said Matilda.

"But I will secure the gates," said the baron.

"But I will leap from the battlement," said Matilda.

"But I will lock you in an upper chamber," said the baron.

"But I will shred the tapestry," said Matilda, "and let myself down."

"But I will lock you in a turret," said the baron, "where you
shall only see light through a loophole."

"But through that loophole," said Matilda, "will I take my flight,
like a young eagle from its eerie; and, father, while I go out freely,
I will return willingly: but if once I slip out through a loop-hole----"
She paused a moment, and then added, singing,--

The love that follows fain
Will never its faith betray:
But the faith that is held in a chain
Will never be found again,