k with
shrinking fingertips; the moldering leather cover and the odor of
soiled and thumb-marked leaves offended her. The first page was folded
over, and when she spread it out, the yellowing paper cracked along its
ancient creases; it was a map, with the signs of the Zodiac; in the
middle was a single verse:

Mortal! Wouldst thou scan aright
Dreams and visions of the night?
Wouldst thou future secrets learn
And the fate of dreams discern?
Wouldst thou ope the Curtain dark
And thy future fortune mark?
Try the mystic page, and read
What the vision has decreed.

Philly, holding her red lip between her teeth, turned the pages:

"MONEY. TO DREAM OF FINDING MONEY; MOURNING AND LOSS.

"MONKEY. YOU HAVE SECRET ENEMIES.

"MOON." (Philippa shivered.) "A GOOD OMEN; IT DENOTES COMING JOY.
GREAT SUCCESS IN LOVE."

She shut the book sharply, then opened it again. Such books sometimes
told (so foolishly!) of charms which would bring love. She looked
furtively at Mary; but the child, pulling down a great hollyhock to
pick the fuzzy yellow disks, was not noticing Miss Philly's interest in
the "foolish book." Philippa turned over the pages. Yes; the charms
were there!...

Instructions for making dumb-cake, to cut which reveals a lover: "ANY
NUMBER OF YOUNG FEMALES SHALL TAKE A HANDFUL OF WHEATEN FLOUR--" That
was no use; there were too many females as it was!

"TO KNOW WHETHER A MAN SHALL HAVE THE WOMAN HE WISHES." Philippa
sighed. Not that. A holy man does not "wish" for a woman.

"A CHARM TO CHARM A MAN'S LOVE." The blood suddenly ran tingling in
Philly's veins. "LET A YOUNG MAID PICK OF ROSEMARY TWO ROOTS; OF
MONK'S-HOOD--"

A line had been drawn through this last word, and another word written
above it; but the ink was so faded, the page so woolly and thin with
use, that it was impossible to decipher the correction; perhaps it was
"mother-wort," an herb Philly did not know; or it might be "mandrake"?
It looked as much like one as the other, the writing was so blurred and
dim. "It is best to take what the book says," Philly said, simply;
"besides, I haven't those other things in the garden, and I have
monk's-hood and rosemary--if I should want to do it, just for fun."

"OF MONK'S-HOOD TWO ROOTS, AND OF THE FLOWER OF CORN TEN THREADS; LET
HER SLEEP ON THEM ONE NIGHT. IN THE MORNING, LET HER SET THEM ON HER
HEART AND WALK BACKWARDS TEN STEPS, PRAYING FOR THE LOVE OF HER
BELOVED. LET HER THE