There lives a little girl, I will not tell her name, although I know it, who has been unfortunate enough to get into the power of a very bad man.

The man is very, very bad, but I will not mention his name here, although I know it also.

The man came to the little girl and talked to her, and no doubt he threatened her, and at last he made her promise him something--what, I cannot say.

From the moment this little girl made this promise she became thin and white, and anxious and unhappy.

She struggled against the terrible promise which seemed to bind her with fetters of iron, but she could never get away from it, and the man appeared like a terrible ogre to her, and she longed for a Prince to come and deliver her from him.