much
anguish, "_Husht, husht', dherum!_ husht, husht, I say--let me alone--I
will do it--will you husht? I will, I say--I will--there now--that's
it--be quiet, an' I will do it--be quiet!" and as she thus spoke, she
turned her face back over her left shoulder, as if some invisible being
dogged her steps, and stood bending over her.

"_Gho manhy dhea ghud, a ban chohr, dherhum areesh!_ the blessin' o' God
on you, honest woman, I say again," said Mrs. Sullivan, repeating that
sacred form of salutation with which the peasantry address each other.
"'Tis a fine evenin', honest woman, glory be to him that sent the same,
and amin! If it was cowld, I'd be axin' you to draw your chair in to the
fire: but, any way, won't you sit down?"

As she ceased speaking, the piercing eye of the strange woman became
riveted on her with a glare, which, whilst it startled Mrs. Sullivan,
seemed full of an agony that almost abstracted her from external
life. It was not, however, so wholly absorbing as to prevent it from
expressing a marked interest, whether for good or evil, in the woman who
addressed her so hospitably.

"Husht, now--husht," she said, as if aside--"husht, won't you--sure I
may speak the thing to her--you said it--there now, husht!" And then
fastening her dark eyes on Mrs. Sullivan, she smiled bitterly and
mysteriously.

"I know you well," she said, without, however, returning the blessing
contained in the usual reply to Mrs. Sullivan's salutation--"I know you
well, Mary Sullivan--husht, now, husht--yes, I know you well, and the
power of all that you carry about you; but you'd be better than you
are--and that's well enough now--if you had sense to know--ah, ah,
ah!--what's this!" she exclaimed abruptly, with three distinct shrieks,
that seemed to be produced by sensations of sharp and piercing agony.

"In the name of goodness, what's over you, honest woman?" inquired Mrs.
Sullivan, as she started from her chair, and ran to her in a state of
alarm, bordering on terror--"Is it sick you are?"

The woman's face had got haggard, and its features distorted; but in a
few minutes they resumed their peculiar expression of settled wildness
and mystery. "Sick!" she replied, licking her parched lips, "awirck,
awirek! look! look!" and she pointed with a shudder that almost
convulsed her whole frame, to a lump that rose on her shoulders; this,
be it what it might, was covered with a red cloak, closely pinned and
tied with great caution