and its gnawing an' gnashing of teeth, an' its
theirst, an' its torture, and its worm that niver dies, for the like o'
you."

"Come! come away," said Ellinor, pulling her father's arm.

"And if," said Aram, pausing, "if I were to say to you,--name your want
and it shall be fulfilled, would you have no charity for me also?"

"Umph," returned the hag, "ye are the great scolard; and they say
ye knows what no one else do. Till me now," and she approached, and
familiarly, laid her bony finger on the student's arm; "till me,--have
ye iver, among other fine things, known poverty?"

"I have, woman!" said Aram, sternly.

"Och ye have thin! And did ye not sit and gloat, and eat up your oun
heart, an' curse the sun that looked so gay, an' the winged things that
played so blithe-like, an' scowl at the rich folk that niver wasted a
thought on ye? till me now, your honour, till me!"

And the crone curtesied with a mock air of beseeching humility.

"I never forgot, even in want, the love due to my fellow-sufferers; for,
woman, we all suffer,--the rich and the poor: there are worse pangs than
those of want!"

"Ye think there be, do ye? that's a comfort, umph! Well, I'll till ye
now, I feel a rispict for you, that I don't for the rest on 'em; for
your face does not insult me with being cheary like their's yonder;
an' I have noted ye walk in the dusk with your eyes down and your arms
crossed; an' I have said,--that man I do not hate, somehow, for he has
something dark at his heart like me!"

"The lot of earth is woe," answered Aram calmly, yet shrinking back
from the crone's touch; "judge we charitably, and act we kindly to each
other. There--this money is not much, but it will light your hearth and
heap your table without toil, for some days at least!"

"Thank your honour: an' what think you I'll do with the money?"

"What?"

"Drink, drink, drink!" cried the hag fiercely; "there's nothing like
drink for the poor, for thin we fancy oursels what we wish, and,"
sinking her voice into a whisper, "I thinks thin that I have my foot
on the billies of the rich folks, and my hands twisted about their
intrails, and I hear them shriek, and--thin I'm happy!"

"Go home!" said Aram, turning away, "and open the Book of life with
other thoughts."

The little party proceeded, and, looking back, Lester saw the old woman
gaze after them, till a turn in the winding valley hid her from his
sight.

"That is a strange person, Aram; scarcel