5 woman, I am perturbed at thy words, and my flesh quakes to hear thee."-"They'll do you nae ill, though, and maybe muckle gude."-"Avoid ye! I desire nae good that comes by unlawfu' means." 66 "Fule-body that thou art!" said Meg, stepping up to him with a frown of indignation that made her dark eyes flash like lamps from under her bent brows Fule-body! if I meant ye wrang, could na I clod ye ower that craig, and wad man ken how ye cam by your end mair than 10 Frank Kennedy? Hear ye that, ye worricow?" "In the name of all that is good," said the dominie, recoiling and pointing his long pewter-headed walking-cane like a javelin at the supposed sorceress, "in the name of all that is good, bide off hands! I will not be handled 15 woman, stand off upon thine own proper peril! desist, 1 say—I am strong-lo, I will resist!" Here his speech was cut short, for Meg, armed with supernatural strength, (as the dominie asserted,) broke in upon his guard, put by a thrust which he made at her with his cane, and lifted 20 him into the vault, "as easily," said he, " I could sway a Kitchen's atlas." as "Sit doun there," she said, pushing the half-throttled preacher with some violence against a broken chair, "sit doun there, and gather your wind and your senses, ye 25 black barrow-tram o' the kirk that ye are fasting?" 66 are ye fou or Fasting from all but sin," answered the dominie, who, recovering his voice, and finding his exorcisms only served to exasperate the intractable sorceress, thought it best to 30 affect complaisance and submission, inwardly conning over, however, the wholesome conjurations which he durst no longer utter aloud. But as the dominie's brain was by no means equal to carry on two trains of ideas at the same time, a word or two of his mental exercise sometimes es35 caped, and mingled with his uttered speech in a manner ludicrous enough, especially as the poor man shrunk himself together after every escape of the kind, from terror of the effect it might produce upon the irritable feelings of the witch. 40 Meg, in the mean while, went to a great black cauldron that was boiling on a fire on the floor, and lifting the lid, an odor was diffused through the vault, which, if the vapors of a witch's cauldron could in aught be trusted, promised better things than the hell-broth which such vessels are usually supposed to contain. It was in fact the savor of a goodly stew, composed of fowls, hares, partridges, and moor-game, boiled in a large mess with potatoes, onions and leeks, and, from the size of the cauldron, appeared to 5 be prepared for half a dozen of people at least. "So ye hae eat naething a' day?" said Meg, heaving a large portion of this mess into a brown dish, and strewing it savorily with salt and pepper. 66 Naething," answered the dominie, 10 that is, gudewife.' 15 "scelestissima!· "Hae, then," said she, placing the dish before him; "there's what will warm your heart."—"I do not hunger-malefica that is to say, Mrs. Merrilies;" for he said unto himself, "the savor is sweet, but it hath been cooked by a Canidia or an Ericthoe." "If ye dinna eat instantly, and put some saul in ye, by the bread and the salt, I'll put it doun your throat wi' the cutty spoon, scauding as it is, and whether ye will or no. Gape, sinner, and swallow!" Sampson, afraid of eye of newt, and toe of frog, tiger's chaudrons, and so forth, had deter20 mined not to venture; but the smell of the stew was fast melting his obstinacy, which flowed from his chops as it were in streams of water, and the witch's threats decided him to feed. Hunger and fear are excellent casuists. Saul," said Hunger, "feasted with the witch of Endor." 25" And," quoth Fear, "the salt which she sprinkled upon the food showeth plainly it is not a necromantic banquet, in which that seasoning never occurs." "And besides,' says Hunger, after the first spoonful, "it is savory and refreshing viands." 30 "So ye like the meat?" said the hostess. "Yea," answered the dominie, "and I give thee thanks sceleratissima! which means Mrs. Margaret."- Aweel, eat your fill; but an ye kenn'd how it was gotten, ye maybe wadna like it sae weel." - Sampson's spoon dropped, in the 35 act of conveying its load to his mouth. -"There 'e been mony a moonlight watch to bring a' that trade thegither; the folk that are to eat that dinner thought little o' your game-laws." "Is that all?" thought Sampson, resuming his spoon, 40 and shovelling away manfully; "I will not lack my food upon that argument."-"Now ye maun tak a dram." "I will," quoth Sampsonconjuro te - that is, I thank you heartily;" for, he thought to himself, in for a penny in for a pound, and he fairly drank the witch's health in a cupful of brandy. When he had put this cope-stone upon Meg's good cheer, he felt, as he said, "mightily elevated, and afraid of no evil which could befall unto him." "Will ye remember my errand now?" said Meg Merri5 lies; "Iken by the cast o' your e'e that ye 're anither man than when you cam in."-"I will, Mrs. Margaret," repeated Sampson, stoutly; "I will deliver unto him the sealed yepistle, and will add what you please to send by word of mouth." 10 "Then I'll make it short," says Meg. "Tell him te look at the stars without fail this night, and to do what I desire him in that letter, as he would wish That Bertram's right and Bertram's might 15 I have seen him twice when he saw na me; I ken when he was in this country first, and I ken what's brought him back again. Up, and to the gate! ye 're ower lang here; follow me." Sampson followed the sybil accordingly, who guided him 20 about a quarter of a mile through the woods, by a shorter cut than he could have found for himself; they then entered upon the common, Meg still marching before him at a great pace, until she gained the top of a small hillock which overhung the road. 25 66 Here," she said, "stand still here. Look how the setting sun breaks through yon cloud that's been darkening the lift a' day. See where the first stream o' light fa's; it's upon Donagild's round tower- the auldest tower in the castle of Ellangowan, that's no for naething. See 30 as it's glooming to seaward abune yon sloop in the bay,— that's no for naething neither. "Here I stood, on this very spot," said she, drawing herself up so as not to lose one hair-breadth of her uncommon height, and stretching out her long sinewy arm and 35 clenched hand "here I stood, when I tauld the last Laird of Ellangowan what was coming on his house; and did that fa' to the ground? - na! it hit even ower sair! And here, where I brake the wand of peace ower him—here I stand again, to bid God bless and prosper the just heir of 40 Ellangowan, that will sune be brought to his ain; and the best laird he shall be that Ellangowan has seen for three hundred years. I'll no live to see it, maybe; but there will be mony a blithe e'e see it, though mine be closed. And now, Abel Sampson, as ever ye lo'ed the house of Ellangowan, away wi' my message to the English colonel, as if life and death were upon your haste!" So saying, she turned suddenly from the amazed domi5 nie, and regained with swift and long strides the shelter of the wood from which she had issued at the point where it most encroached upon the common. Sampson gazed after her for a moment in utter astonishment, and then obeyed her directions, hurrying to Woodbourne at a pace 10 very unusual for him, exclaiming three times, " Prodigious! prodigious! pro-di-gi-ous!" As Mr. Sampson crossed the hall with a bewildered look, the good housekeeper, who was on the watch for his return, sallied forth upon him: "What's this o't now, 15 Mr. Sampson? - this is waur than ever; ye'll really do yoursell some injury wi' these lang fasts, naething sae hurtful to the stomach, Mr. Sampson. If you would but put some peppermint draps in your pocket, or let Barnes cut you a sandwich." 20 "Avoid thee!" quoth the dominie, his mind running still upon his interview with Meg Merrilies, and making for the dining-parlor.-"Na, ye need na gang in there; the cloth's been removed an hour ago, and the colonel's at his wine; but just step into my room; I have a nice steak 25 that the cook will do in a moment.". "Exorciso te!" said Wha can ye hae dined_wi', "With Beelzebub, I be Sampson, "that is, I have dined." "Dined! it's impossible! you that gangs out nae gate?" lieve," said the minister. - Na, then he 's bewitched for 30 certain," said the housekeeper, letting go her hold; "he 's bewitched or he's daft, and ony way the colonel maun just guide him his ain gate. Waes me! Hech, sirs! It's a sair thing to see learning bring folk to this!" and with this compassionate ejaculation, she retreated into her own 35 premises. The object of her commiseration had by this time entered the dining-parlor, where his appearance gave great surprise. He was mud up to the shoulders, and the natural paleness of his hue was twice as cadaverous as usual, 40 through terror, fatigue, and perturbation of mind. "What on earth is the meaning of this, Mr. Sampson?" said Mannering, who observed Miss Bertram looked much alarmed for her simple but attached friend. "Exorciso—" said the dominie. · 66 How, sir?"— 66 "I "Are crave pardon, honorable sir! but my wits Sampson was about to reply; but finding his Latin 5 formula of exorcism still came most readily to his tongue, he prudently desisted from the attempt, and put the scrap of paper which he had received from the gypsy into Mannering's hand, who broke the seal and read it with surprise. "This seems to be some jest," he said, "and a very dull 10 one." "It came from no jesting person," said Mr. Sampson. — "From whom, then, did it come?" - The dominie, who often displayed some delicacy of recollection in cases where Miss Bertram had an interest, recollected the painful cir15 cumstances connected with Meg Merrilies, looked at the young ladies, and remained silent. We will join you at the tea-table in an instant, Julia; I see that Mr. Sampson wishes to speak to me alone. - And now they are gone, what, in Heaven's name, is the meaning of this?" 66 20 66 It may be a message from heaven," said the dominie, "but it came by Beelzebub's postmistress. It was that witch, Meg Merrilies, who should have been burned with a tar-barrel twenty years since, for a harlot, thief, witch, and gypsy.”—“Are you sure it was she?" said the colonel, 25 with great interest. Sure, honored sir? the like o' Meg Merrilies is not to be seen in any land." The colonel paced the room rapidly, cogitating with himself. "To send out to apprehend her- but it is too distant to send to MacMorlan, and Sir Robert Hazlewood 30 is a pompous coxcomb; besides, the chance of not finding her upon the spot, and the humor of silence that seized her before may again return; - no, I will not, to save being thought a fool, neglect the course she points out. "Many of her class set out by being impostors, and 35 end by being enthusiasts, or hold a kind of darkling conduct between both lines, unconscious almost when they are cheating themselves or when imposing on others. Well, my course is a plain one, at any rate; and if my efforts are fruitless, it shall not be owing to over-jealousy of my own 40 character for wisdom." With this he rung the bell, and ordering Barnes into his private sitting-room, gave him some orders, with the result of which the reader may be made hereafter acquainted. Sir Walter Scott. - |