San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-12-06

burning faggots and dark tribunals
might have been "Have you slep
well?" or DO you like tn
weather."
Sidonia was looking up at tn,
Countess with her unreliable eyes
After a little waiting pause sh.
said, quite simply-"Yes."
She believed absolutely in tn,
truth of the word she had uttered
Your mother is a witch also, il
she not?"
people call her that" sale
Sidonia in a lower voice, anG
guardedly. She herself did no,
regard her mother as anything OF
the kind. But there had been the
ordeal of the white-hot plough.
shares.
81 need a powerful love charm.
Perhaps several, of different kinds
would be better than one.
will pay we'll for them"
The wife of the Holy Count &.
Sidonia felt that she was being
educated. She continued to look
fixedly upward.
Can you bring me these
charms ?"
Yes Oh, yes"
What are they like? How
quickly do they work. -.
The Countess had put aside the
book of devotion. She seemed
to kindle-to become eager and
brisk, almost like another person.
"The kind of charm would de-
pend upon whom it IS wanted for.
Some are quicker than others"
Sidonia spoke quite matter-of-
factly. Charms and potions We're
a commodity-like bread or onions.
81 wan something exceedingly
strong, that will not be slow in its
action 1t is for a
!orag man."
'oung man o.. With
OF growing that she did so, the
girl on the cushion considered this.
For no particular reason the
memory-picture of face up-turn-
ed to her from a seething street
half boys, half mans, half
ascetic's, half lover's-was sum-
moned to her. Something prompt
ed her, and she said
81 must have the name of the
person. 1t is necessary, for there
are spells to lie spoken if the
charm is to bind and hold"
A little pause of silence, and
then
"The name is Gervais."
Sidonia was not surprised. 1T
was as if words that were quite
inevitable had been uttered. IT.
was all inevitable-she herself
spoke under compulsion, acted I'M
der compulsion. She was just
chess-piece moved over a sable
board The inarti-
culate sense of strong, purposeful
control, which was also protective,
was wonderfully comfortable. One
leaned back against it as against
pillows, and ones words and deeds
were mechanical.
The Countess, sleek, and charm
ingly rounded, sat with the in
human serenity of a cat. She had
not turned a hair. Naturally one
spoke openly with a witch.
81 want these charms today-to-
night ,. What will you bring me ?"
The girl answered as il was
given her to answer. Something
was planning for her-shaping her
speech. She herself sat upright |
on the great cushion, caressed bv |
the feel of ladylike garments and |
quiet as a corpse in a |
coffin.
"My lady, / will go to my |
mothers and fetch you a liquid
that can be mixed with wine, and 4
a wax image that must be inscrib- |,
ed with the name you have told me
and pierced with rose horn"
The Countess leaned little for
ward.
"Do mix this draught with the |
wine MYSELF"
mo - said Sidonia, speak
ing more deliberately. 81 must
mix it, for there are spells to be
said that / could not teach you.
And the person to whom you are
going to offer it must enter the
room where it is and remain there
alone for as long as it takes to
count a notwithstanding slowly
before you yourself enter. This
is very important, for during that |,
time of counting ] will pierce the 4
wax image a hundred times with Il
the magic thorn, repeating power
ful words"
(The girl had scarcely known
that she knew of thee things. II
was herself, yet not herself-a
buried person, with a memory
lucid as dew and no qualms at ali
released from obscure bonds by
the passivity Of her Surfac, :
The. Countess, by her very
silence, appeared to be as impress
ed as a patient to whom a doctor
mas recited a medicinal formula
bats tongues, moss
from the stones of a bel
Try, pulverised snail shells and !
powdered bone from the skull of a I