has so zealously importuned the gods, and, you
say, with no result?"

"Ay, a result has come," answered the old dame, sullenly. "Within this
week the gods--or the demons--have heard my master, for a wild thing from
the hills is with us!"

"Wild thing? Do you mean a man?"

"A semblance of a man, though none such will you see in the streets of a
respectable town."

"But does your master----" began the priest, in some perplexity.

Mata cut him short. "Because he can smear ink on paper with a brush, my
master dotes on him and says he will adopt him!"

The woman's fierce sincerity transmitted vague alarm. Slipping his hands
within his gray sleeves, the acolyte began fingering his short rosary as
he asked, "Is the--wild man now under this very roof?"

"Not under a roof when he can escape it, you may be sure! He comes to us
only when driven by hunger of the stomach or the eyes. Doubtless at this
moment he wallows among the ferns and sa-sa grass of the mountain side,
or lies face down in the cemetery near my mistress' grave. He is mad, my
master is mad, and Miss Ume, if she really gives herself in marriage to
the mountain lion, madder than all the rest!"

"That beautiful maiden whom I saw will be given to such a one?" asked the
priest, in a startled way.

"Such are the present plans," said the other in deep despair, and huddled
herself together on the floor.

Ume-ko, in her room across the hallway, had half risen. It really was
time to check the old servant's vulgar garrulity. But the silence that
followed the last remark checked her impulse. After all, what did it
matter? No one could understand or needed to understand.

Meanwhile Mata, at first unconscious of anything but her own dark
thoughts, became gradually aware of a strange look in the face of the
priest. He, on his part, was wondering whether, indeed, the beauty of
Ume-ko were not the sole cause of his patron's interest in the Kano
family. After watching him intently for a few moments the old woman
wriggled nearer and whispered in a tone so low that Ume could not catch
the words, "Perhaps, after all, Sir Priest, you, being of their belief,
perceive this to be a case where charms and spells are advisable. I am
convinced that this house is bewitched, that the Dragon Painter has a
train of elementals in attendance. Now, if we could only drive him
forever from the place. Have you, by any chance, a powder, or an amulet,
or a magic invocation yo