rnt stick upon the wall, it had no
decoration. Having amused myself with the _Lady Caher_--such was the
vessel called--I again set forth on my voyage of discovery, and bent
my steps towards the kitchen. Alas! my success was no better there. The
goodly grate, before which should have stood some of that luscious fare
of which I had been reading, was cold and deserted; in one corner, it
was true, three sods of earth, scarce lighted, supported an antiquated
kettle, whose twisted spout was turned up with a misanthropic curl at
the misery of its existence. I ascended the stairs, my footsteps echoed
along the silent corridor, but still no trace of human habitant could I
see, and I began to believe that even the landlord had departed with the
larder.

At this moment the low murmur of voices caught my ear. I listened, and
could distinctly catch the sound of persons talking together at the
end of the corridor. Following along this, I came to a door, at which,
having knocked twice with my knuckles, I waited for the invitation to
enter. Either indisposed to admit me, or not having heard my summons,
they did not reply; so turning the handle gently, I opened the door, and
entered the room unobserved. For some minutes I profited but little by
this step; the apartment, a small one, was literally full of smoke, and
it was only when I had wiped the tears from my eyes three times that I
at length began to recognise the objects before me.

Seated upon two low stools, beside a miserable fire of green wood, that
smoked, not blazed, upon the hearth, were a man and a woman. Between
them a small and rickety table supported a tea equipage of the humblest
description, and a plate of fish whose odour pronounced them red
herrings. Of the man I could see but little, as his back was turned
toward me; but had it been otherwise, I could scarcely have withdrawn my
looks from the figure of his companion. Never had my eyes fallen on
an object so strange and so unearthly. She was an old woman, so old,
indeed, as to have numbered nearly a hundred years; her head, uncovered
by cap, or quoif, displayed a mass of white hair that hung down her
back and shoulders, and even partly across her face, not sufficiently,
however, to conceal two dark orbits, within which her dimmed eyes
faintly glimmered; her nose was thin and pointed, and projecting to the
very mouth, which, drawn backwards at the angles by the tense muscles,
wore an expression of hideous laughter. Ov