ress Harcourt! We'll have
justice on the old witch that's done the mischief!"

"What mischief?" asked Maud, in some surprise, patting Cavalier to make
him stand still.

"What mischief should it be but sending away Master Harry Drury to the
Parliament wars, as though the king hadn't had enough of the lads from
Hayslope?"

"But this poor old woman did not send Harry away," said Maud, quickly.

"Marry, but she bewitched him. I see it with my own eyes," said the man.
"If I had but known it then I'd have ducked her in the horse-pond, and
broken the spell."

Maud shivered. The belief in witchcraft was universal then, and she
began to fear whether Harry had been under Satanic influence. At length
she said, "I should like to see this old woman, if she be a witch, and
ask her where Master Harry has gone."

"Prithee, be not so venturesome, lest she send thee after him," said the
blacksmith, in some consternation.

Maud thought this would not be so much of a calamity, perhaps, until the
man added, "Nobody will ever hear aught of Master Harry again, and if
thou dost go to the witch, thou wilt disappear too."

The young lady looked undecided when she heard this, but she could
hardly restrain Cavalier from turning down a narrow lane close by, which
the blacksmith observing, said, "Now, you may be sure mistress, that the
old witch has worked her spells; for Cavalier there is under them, and
is bidden by her to take thee to be bewitched too."

It seemed that the horse was determined to take her somewhere, whether
she would or no, and the next minute was trotting down the lane, Maud
scarcely knowing what to make of the proceeding. After trotting about
half a mile he paused, and then turned in at a broken-down gateway, and
walked up to the window of a cottage, where he stopped and looked round,
as if telling Maud to dismount.

"The horse certainly is bewitched," said Maud, half aloud, determined
not to move from her seat, and trying to turn Cavalier's head in the
opposite direction.

But Cavalier seemed obstinately bent on looking in at the window, and
would not move; and Maud's consternation was complete when the door
slowly opened, and an old woman, leaning on a crutched stick, came
hobbling out. She was in the presence of the witch herself, and, with a
cry of horror, Maud dropped the reins and covered her face with her
hands. Finding the witch did not attempt to drag her into the house, now
that she had her in her power,