it to the witch.

An' now, thinks the youngster, he'd like to go home agen: an' shaw off
'fore the nayburs, s'pose.

"Well, thee cust go," says the owld witch, grinnin'.

"An' what must I pay'ee for taychin' me?" says the youngster.

"Nawthin', sonny! Nawthin' at all!" says the witch. "I shall git me
reward in a way o' me awn."

An' weth that 'a bust out laughin' agen.

Well, anyway, the lad, accordin' to the story, wished un "_good-bye_,"
an' trudged off home.

But aw! poor dear! when 'a got to Zennor 'a nigh 'pon brok 'es heart
weth grief.

He'd ben livin' all alone weth the owld black witch, an' 'a hadn' took
no note of what was passin', an' 'a thought 'a was still a youngster,
simmin'ly: 'stead o' which 'a was graw'd to an owld, owld man, weth no
more pith in 'es bones than a piskey; an' 'a cud hardly manage to crawl
to Zennor, 'a was so owld an' palchy[J], an' nigh 'pon blind.

An', wust of all, when 'a got to Zennor everywan who knaw'd un was dead
an' gone! 'Es faather an' mawther was up in the churchyard, an' 'a
hadn' got a single friend in the world!

So because 'a was so owld an' terrible palchy, an' hadn' got nowan to
taake no int'rest in un, through never havin' took no int'rest in nowan,
they was obliged to put un up to Maddern Union; an' there 'a lingered,
owld an' toatlish,[K] 'tell 'a died at laast a lone owld man.

FOOTNOTES:

[B] Prying.

[C] The mermaid, with glass and comb and with the tail of a fish, which
is carved on a bench-end in Zennor church.

[D] Ancient hut-dwellings.

[E] Barrows.

[F] Cromlech. The term is derived from the legendary belief that these
rude megalithic monuments were used by the giants when playing quoits.

[G] A little bit, in the least.

[H] In Cornwall _witch_ is both masculine and feminine. The _black_
witch exercises the most potent magic; the _white_ witch being vastly
inferior in power.

[I] Fool.

[J] Weak.

[K] Silly.

THE PURSUIT.

IT began when I was a lad at the country day-school, struggling to hold
my own among the scholars in my class.

If I could only always be perfect in my lessons, and among the foremost
(if not the first) in the examinations; then, at least, I thought, I
should see Her face to face.

But these good things befell me--possibly undeservedly--and though I
swelled beneath my coat with inward satisfaction, _She_ was still far
off: a phantom on the hills.

Then it struck me that if I went to dear Mother