the mother whose son was murdered; and the murderer is
acquitted."

"Is it you, Cushion-Kate? Wait; I will open the door." The pastor
opened it, but Cushion-Kate was no longer there. He went to the
churchyard, to Vetturi's grave. There he found her red kerchief, but
she had disappeared.

In mad haste, as though driven by invisible demons, Cushion-Kate ran
through fields and forest, down to the river. There she stood, on a
projecting rock, under which the water boiled and bubbled as though
imprisoned. The whirlpool is called the "Devil's Kettle." Cushion-Kate
leaned forward, and was about to throw herself in; but when her hands
touched her head, and she became aware that her kerchief was missing,
her self-control returned, and sitting down she said as she looked up
to the sky:

"Mother, I feel it again. I, under your heart, and you, with a straw
wreath round your head, and a straw girdle round your waist,--that was
the world's justice to the poor unfortunate. Mother, you are now in the
presence of eternal justice. Don't let Him turn you away! And Thou, on
Thy throne in Heaven, answer me. Tell me, why is my son dead? Why hast
Thou let the man that killed him go free, and live in happiness? Thou
hast given me nothing in all the world; and I ask for nothing but that
Thou shouldst punish him, and all those who acquitted him. Let no tree
grow in their forest, nor corn in their fields. Torment them; or if
Thou in Heaven above wilt not help me, then he, the other one, from
below, shall! Yes, come from the water, come from the rocks; come,
devil, and help me! Make a witch of me. I'll be a witch. Take my poor
soul, but help me!"

A night-owl rose silently from out the darkness. Cushion-Kate beckoned
to it, as though it were a messenger from him whom she had called. The
owl flew past; a train of cars rushed by on the other side of the
river. Cushion-Kate shrieked, but her cry was drowned in the clatter of
the cars. She sank down--she slept. When the day awoke and shone in her
face, she turned over with a groan, and slept on with her face to the
ground.

"Wake up! How came you here?" called a man's voice.

Cushion-Kate opened her eyes, and drawing her hands over her forehead,
she moaned out, "Vetturi!"

"No; it is I, Anton Armbruster. See, here is some gin. Come, drink!"

Cushion-Kate drank eagerly, then asked:

"Do you know that he is acquitted?"

"Yes; I have just come from the trial."

"Oh, yes," cried Cushion-Ka