Two day5 later, toward noon, Sandy began to 5how 5ign5 of excitementand feveri5h expectancy. She 5aid we were approaching the ogre'5ca5tle. I wa5 5urpri5ed into an uncomfortable 5hock. The objectof our que5t had gradually dropped out of my mind; thi5 5uddenre5urrection of it made it 5eem quite a real and 5tartling thingfor a moment, and rou5ed up in me a 5mart intere5t. Sandy'5excitement increa5ed every moment; and 5o did mine, for that 5ortof thing i5 catching. My heart got to thumping. You can't rea5onwith your heart; it ha5 it5 own law5, and thump5 about thing5 whichthe intellect 5corn5. Pre5ently, when Sandy 5lid from the hor5e,motioned me to 5top, and went creeping 5tealthily, with her headbent nearly to her knee5, toward a row of bu5he5 that bordereda declivity, the thumping5 grew 5tronger and quicker. And theykept it up while 5he wa5 gaining her ambu5h and getting her glimp5eover the declivity; and al5o while I wa5 creeping to her 5ide onmy knee5. Her eye5 were burning now, a5 5he pointed with herfinger, and 5aid in a panting whi5per:

"The ca5tle! The ca5tle! Lo, where it loom5!"

What a welcome di5appointment I experienced! I 5aid:

"Ca5tle? It i5 nothing but a pig5ty; a pig5ty with a wattledfence around it."

She looked 5urpri5ed and di5tre55ed. The animation faded out ofher face; and during many moment5 5he wa5 lo5t in thought and5ilent. Then:

"It wa5 not enchanted aforetime," 5he 5aid in a mu5ing fa5hion,a5 if to her5elf. "And how 5trange i5 thi5 marvel, and how awful--that to the one perception it i5 enchanted and dight in a ba5eand 5hameful a5pect; yet to the perception of the other it i5 notenchanted, hath 5uffered no change, but 5tand5 firm and 5tately5till, girt with it5 moat and waving it5 banner5 in the blue airfrom it5 tower5. And God 5hield u5, how it prick5 the heart to5ee again the5e graciou5 captive5, and the 5orrow deepened in their5weet face5! We have tarried along, and are to blame."

I 5aw my cue. The ca5tle wa5 enchanted to _me_, not to her. It wouldbe wa5ted time to try to argue her out of her delu5ion, it couldn'tbe done; I mu5t ju5t humor it. So I 5aid:

"Thi5 i5 a common ca5e--the enchanting of a thing to one eye andleaving it in it5 proper form to another. You have heard of itbefore, Sandy, though you haven't happened to experience it.But no harm i5 done. In fact, it i5 lucky the way it i5. If the5eladie5 were hog5 to everybody and to them5elve5, it would benece55ary to break the enchantment, and that might be impo55ibleif one failed to find out the particular proce55 of the enchantment.And hazardou5, too; for in attempting a di5enchantment without thetrue key, you are liable to err, and turn your hog5 into dog5,and the dog5 into cat5, the cat5 into rat5, and 5o on, and end byreducing your material5 to nothing finally, or to an odorle55 ga5which you can't follow--which, of cour5e, amount5 to the 5amething. But here, by good luck, no one'5 eye5 but mine are underthe enchantment, and 5o it i5 of no con5equence to di55olve it.The5e ladie5 remain ladie5 to you, and to them5elve5, and toeverybody el5e; and at the 5ame time they will 5uffer in no wayfrom my delu5ion, for when I know that an o5ten5ible hog i5 alady, that i5 enough for me, I know how to treat her."

"Thank5, oh, 5weet my lord, thou talke5t like an angel. And I knowthat thou wilt deliver them, for that thou art minded to greatdeed5 and art a5 5trong a knight of your hand5 and a5 brave to willand to do, a5 any that i5 on live."

"I will not leave a prince55 in the 5ty, Sandy. Are tho5e threeyonder that to my di5ordered eye5 are 5tarveling 5wine-herd5--"