e was there on the road; when he preached in
the cathedral she lurked among the congregation; when he strolled about
Beorminster she watched him round corners, but she never approached him,
she never spoke to him, and frequently vanished as mysteriously and
unexpectedly as she appeared. Wherever he went, wherever he looked, that
crimson cloak was sure to meet his eye. Mother Jael was old and bent and
witch-like, with elf locks of white hair and a yellow, wrinkled face;
but her eyes burned like two fiery stars under her frosted brows, and
with these she stared hard at Bishop Pendle, until he felt almost
mesmerised by the intensity of her gaze. She became a perfect nightmare
to the man, much the same as the little old woman of the coffer was to
Abudah, the merchant in the fantastic eastern tale; but, unlike that
pertinacious beldam, she apparently had no message to deliver. She only
stared and stared with her glittering, evil eyes, until the bishop--his
nerves not being under control with this constant persecution--almost
fancied that the powers of darkness had leagued themselves against him,
and had sent this hell-hag to haunt and torment him.

Several times he strove to speak to her, for he thought that even the
proverb of sleeping dogs might be acted upon too literally; but Mother
Jael always managed to shuffle out of the way. She appeared to have the
power of disintegrating her body, for where she disappeared to on these
occasions the bishop never could find out. One minute he would see her
in her red cloak, leaning on her crutch and staring at him steadily, but
let him take one step in her direction and she would vanish like a
ghost. No wonder the bishop's nerves began to give way; the constant
sight of that silent figure with its menacing gaze would have driven
many a man out of his mind, but Dr Pendle resisted the panic which
seized him at times, and strove to face the apparition--for Mother
Jael's flittings deserved such a name--with control and calmness. But
the effort was beyond his strength at times.

As the weeks went by, Cargrim also began to notice the persecution of
Mother Jael, and connecting her with Jentham and Jentham with the
bishop, he began to wonder if she knew the truth about the murder. It
was not improbable, he thought, that she might be possessed of more
important knowledge than she had imparted to the police, and a single
word from her might bring home the crime to the bishop. If he was
innoce