Ay," he continued, in a tone of profoundest melancholy, "I was once proud of the gifts nature had vouchsafed me; too proud, alas! and I was punished for my vanity and self-boasting.

In those days I loved--and was beloved in return--by a damsel beautiful as Aveline.

After my horrible punishment, I beheld her no more.

Knowing she must regard me with aversion, I shunned her.

I desired not to be an object of pity.