The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-01-07
hand and hold Il %, and now say afte.

me -
/ hesitated~R moment and then re.
peated after her. .'In the name of the
One Eyed, the name of Odin, / hold
thee and have thee. through this life.
and that life, and all lives to follow. I
call thee and keep thee, my hand for
the witness, my lips for thy kissing,
my strength for thy weakness, my tears
for thy sorrow, my breast for thy head
when thou. bouQe thee to sleeping, my
life for thy Calling Then she stop
ped and looked vaguely at me and be-
yond me, and / finished the oath with
words that $ in my mind, though /
had neve heard them before:
my life for thy calling, my death
for thy living. Hear, Thor and hear
Odin and Hector MacKenneth. Then I
drew my hand ont from the hole and
turned to the witch, but the next min
ute / saw that her thoughts were not
with me or with this material world at
all, and / went softly away, leaving her
standing with her back to the sea and
her eyes fixed o. the great stone, listen
ing intently and vainly, with her hand
against her ear.
So / saw her the next time / passed
her neat cottage. She had been gather
ing some herbs, and now she stood lis
tening again, with the herbs held tight
ly to her breast. This time I stopped to
speak to her. Lief MacKenneth I
said quietly, "are You not going TO give
your sister the morn's g~reeting?"
She gave me a quick, wild, wonder
ing look, and her eyes filled with sud-
den sunshine. God bless you for the
MacKenneth, " she said earnestly, ''and
for the sisterhood. But you must not
stop with me today"
"Why?" I said. 1--WE are not going
to have a storm, Lief"
~s"Are we no?'' she laughed. "Woman,
dear, you're no Zetlander. There'll be
a storm ON us inside of an hour, and a
black wind strong enough to blow the
heart out o. your breast, orr
"Or the dead out of their graves, " I
said, with meaning, and her face light
ed up again.
"Maybe," she muttered, maybe.
Now 60 home, you wife of MacKenneth
and dream O. your man and the bairns
to be. Oh, aye, " as / drew back, flushing
hotly. I'm not a witch for nothing.
and / can see their shadows round you,
Eleanor MacKenneth, two, three and
four. Now"-she turned and caught my
hands in hers and kissed me on lips and
cheek and forehead with eager, close
kisses. There, now, go home, Eleanor
woman, and shut the storm ont. When
do you go to'your own home, soon?"
Next week." answered. "I told
Hector to expect me ON Thursday
AYE, and a fine, calm journey to
you, dear heart. But III see you again
Go now, and goodby, woman dear"
I heard very little of the storm that
night, for I slept IS soundly as a child,
and when, toward morning, ] began to
dream my dreams were pleasant enough,
though they were all of Lief. The last
dream of all was the which made
the deepest impression ON me. 1t was of
Lief again, but as I had never seen her.
Young and with a wonderful shy glad
ness in her eyes,, she stood at the door
of her cottage in the driving rain, with
her hand fast in the hands of a man
with fair hair and bold blue eyes, q
younger edition of my own husband. I
saw them kiss each other, and then /
woke.
Ronald has come back to her., F" I
said to myself as I rubbed my drowsy
eyes, and somehow I was not i'm the
least surprised or grieyed when mine
hostess came in later ON in the morning
to tell me that the storm had wrecked
half a score of houses and had blown
the witch's cabin out to sea. Nothing
was ever heard Of the witch herself, bat
after a little while my husband and /
had q pine wood Cross put up close to
the stone of Odin, and ON it we wrote
the two names, Lief and Ronald. And
in the small churchsof Kirk Harold,
where Lief was christened, we put up a
tablet to the glory of God and in loving
memory of Ronald MacKenneth and
Lief, his wife. -Macmillan's Magazine.