o I spoke kindly to her,
and said, 'How came all this, Leonora? tell me all about it.' It was a
long time before I could get any answer; at last she opened her mouth and
spoke, and these were the words she said, 'It was all along of your Pal;'
{251} and then she told me all about the matter--how Mrs. Herne could not
abide you, which I knew before; and that she had sworn your destruction,
which I did not know before. And then she told me how she found you
living in the wood by yourself, and how you were enticed to eat a
poisoned cake; and she told me many other things that you wot of, and she
told me what perhaps you don't wot, namely, that finding you had been
removed, she, the child, had tracked you a long way, and found you at
last well and hearty, and no ways affected by the poison, and heard you,
as she stood concealed, disputing about religion with a Welsh Methody.
Well, brother, she told me all this; and, moreover, that when Mrs. Herne
heard of it, she said that a dream of hers had come to pass. I don't
know what it was, but something about herself, a tinker, and a dean; and
then she added, that it was all up with her, and that she must take a
long journey. Well, brother, that same night Leonora, waking from her
sleep in the tent where Mrs. Herne and she were wont to sleep, missed her
bebee, {252a} and, becoming alarmed, went in search of her, and at last
found her hanging from a branch; and when the child had got so far, she
took on violently, and I could not get another word from her; so I left
her, and here I am."

"And I am glad to see you, Mr. Petulengro; but this is sad news which you
tell me about Mrs. Herne."

"Somewhat dreary, brother; yet, perhaps, after all, it is a good thing
that she is removed; she carried so much Devil's tinder about with her,
as the man said."

"I am sorry for her," said I; "more especially as I am the cause of her
death--though the innocent one."

"She could not bide you, brother, that's certain; but that is no
reason"--said Mr. Petulengro, balancing himself upon the saddle--"that is
no reason why she should prepare drow to take away your essence of life;
and, when disappointed, to hang herself upon a tree: if she was
dissatisfied with you, she might have flown at you, and scratched your
face; or, if she did not judge herself your match, she might have put
down five shillings for a turn up between you and some one she thought
could beat you--myself, for example, and so the