The Dwarf first broke the silence with
the sudden, abrupt, and alarming question,--"Woman, what evil fate has
brought thee hither?"
"My father's danger, and your own command," she replied faintly, but
firmly.
"And you hope for aid from me?"
"If you can bestow it," she replied, still in the same tone of mild
submission.
"And how should I possess that power?" continued the Dwarf, with a
bitter sneer; "Is mine the form of a redresser of wrongs? Is this the
castle in which one powerful enough to be sued to by a fair suppliant
is likely to hold his residence? I but mocked thee, girl, when I said I
would relieve thee."
"Then must I depart, and face my fate as I best may!"
"No!" said the Dwarf, rising and interposing between her and the door,
and motioning to her sternly to resume her seat--"No! you leave me
not in this way; we must have farther conference. Why should one being
desire aid of another? Why should not each be sufficient to itself? Look
round you--I, the most despised and most decrepit on Nature's common,
have required sympathy and help from no one.
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