The times., 1897-12-26

| That eoIas killed the mother of my
| mother, Mary; she that was a woman out
| of the Isle OF Benbucula.' >
| KILLED her!'' / repeated, awe-struck.
ave; It's o charm for the doing away
| ofwitchment, and suret is my poor Muireail
| who has been hewitched. But my mother S
| mother used the cola sfor the takinga way OF
! a curse upon COW that would not give
1 milk. she was saying the incantation Tor
, the third time, and winding the triple
! thread around the beasts tail, and the i'll
that was in the COW came forth and set
/ tied upon her, SO that she went back To her
| house quaking and sick with the blight,
| and died of il next day, beca use there was
no one TO take il from her i'll turn by that
! or any other eOlaS.'
1 listened in silence. The thing seemed
terrible to me, then; no, no, not then only,
but now, too, whenever L think OF IL.
Say il, then. Aunt Elspeth,'' l whis-
pered, say il, In the name OF the Holy
Three
Nlththat she went on her knees and leaned
! against her chair, though with her face to
ward her husband because of the FEAR that
! was ever iii her. Then In alow voice, choked
/ with soDs, she Sa nj this eolas, fter she had
first uttered the holy words of the PateI
Noster:
! An eve will see you,
1onsde sytn SPEAK uI you,
Heart VIII think of you,
The Man of Heaven
BlesSeS you
The Eatnec, Son and Holy Ghost.
-Four caused your hurt
Man and Wife,
Young fnan and maiden,
" no Is To Illustrate that
The Three fersOns OF the most Holy Trinity,
The Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
call the Virgin Mary and st. Bridget
to witness
TIN, ,-,,,,- 49,, ,t-.,.. y.,,,r.,t
Through i'll will,
Or the evil eye,
Or a wicked heart,
That you, Muireali, my daughter, may be
whole
And this in the name of the Father, the
Son ana the Holy Ghost
Just as she finished. and as she was
lingering on the line, GUM hi thusa.
MuIreail, gu mauth, Rory, the bind collie,
rose, whlmpered. and stood with snarling
jaws.
strangely enough, Gorromalt heard this,
though mis- ei,Is mad been deaf TO all else,
or 50 it eem ed. at least.
Down, Rory; down, beast" lie exclaimed
III Voice strangely shrill and weak
But the dog would not he stiil. His
Suilen fear grew worse Suddenly he
sided and la on his belly, now snariinr,
now hOwing, hls blind eyes diStenued, his
nostrils qulvermg, his Hanks qualinc
What ails the beaSt?' he asked, AN
grily, looking now at Rory, now at us
Has anyone COmein? Has anyone been at
the door,
no one, Archibald
What have you been doing, ElSpeth?''
Not hing
Woman, | heard your voice droning at
your prayers. \ h, l see-you have been
at some of your slams and eoases again.
Sure, now, one would he thinking you
would have less foolishnesS, and You with
the grayness upon your years. what eolaS
did she say Mary?"
l told him. 'Aw, the silly woman that
she is, the Eoias t-Sna ithnean Madness
and fulyi Where is Morag?''
I'm bed l said this with truth in nv
eyes. Gods forgiveness Tor that good lie!
And it's time you were there. also.
and You, too, Elspeth. Come, now, no more
Of this fooShnesS. We have nothing to
wait for Why are we waiting here"
At that moment Rory became worse than
ever. l thought the poor blind beast would
take some Dreadful fit Foam was on his
jaws; his hair bristled. He had sided for
ward and Crouched low. We saw him look
again and again toward the nix space to
his right, as If, blind though ne was, ne saw
some one there, someone that gave himfear,
but no longer a fierce terror Nay, more
than once we saw him wave his tail, aud
sniff as though longingly. But when he
turned his head to ward the door, his sullen
fury grew, and terror lay upon every limb.
1t was now that Gorromalt was speaking.
Suddenly the dog made a leap forward
"a terrible, bristliug wolf he seemed 10
nae, though no wolf had | ever seen or
Imagined any more wearsome than Rory
now.
He dashed himself against the door,
sGaring aud mouthing, with his snout
uosing the narrow sill at the bottom.
Aunt Elspeth and shook with fear.
My uncle was death-white. but stood
strangely brouding. He had his right
elbow upon his breast. ana supported
with his left arm, while, with his right
hand, he plucked at his beard.
For sure" he said at last, with an
effort to seem at ease; for sure, the
co:, is fey with his age and his blindness
And If that were not 50, it might hook as if
he had the fear on him, because of some
one who strove to come in"
"It is Muireall," l whispered, above
my breath
No said Aunt Elspeth, and the voice
OF her now was is though it had come out
of the granite all about Us, cold and hard
as that NO; Mureall is already i'll the
room"
We 10th turned and looked at her She
sat quite still, on the chair betwixt the
fire and the table Her face was rigid,
CHASTITY. but her eyes were large and wild
\ look, first of fear, then almost of
tenderness, came into her husbands face.
Hush, Eispeth," he said, that is fool
iShness.'
1T is hot foolishness, Archibald she
resumed, in the same hard, International
Voice, hut with terrible intensity. Man,
man. because you are blind, is there no
sight for those who can see?'
There is no one here but ourselves" |
But here Aunt Elspeth half rose, with |
supplicatiug arms.
'MuirealI! Muireall. MuirealE Q, Ellie
aroonI''
saw Archibald Campbell sha king as
though he were Child, and not a strong |
man.
..wiii you be telling us this, EIspeth." |
he began, in a Voice: 'Will you be tell !
ing me this: If Muireall is in the room, |
beyond Rory there, who viii be at the |
door? Who is trying to come in at the |
door,
"Its man. i do not know the man. |
1t is a man. 1t is Death, ybei |
I do not know the man. O, Ellie aroon, |
Ellie aroont'
But now the great. eaunt, black dog
terrible he was in his SETTLING blindness |
to mel began his sa wage snafling, his
insensate fury. He had ceased |
a moment while our voices filled the |
room, and bad sidled little way toward
the 1unrShere Aunt Elspeth saw Muireall, |
low he did SO, and swishing his
ai fuFtipely along the whitewashed flag 1
stones.
/ know not what awfui thing would have |
ha opened. 1t seemed To me that death
was coming to all OF us.
But at that moment we heard the sound
q gailoping horse. There was a iull
in the wind, and the rain lashed no more
ike a Streaming, Mhistling whip. Even |