as aware of our
return; otherwise it appeared as if she was conscious of her influence
for good over the passionate and troubled woman kneeling before her,
and would not willingly avert her grave and loving eyes from that
wrinkled and careworn countenance.

Suddenly--in the twinkling of an eye--the creature appeared, there,
behind Lucy; fearfully the same as to outward semblance, but kneeling
exactly as Bridget knelt, and clasping her hands in jesting mimicry as
Bridget clasped hers in her ecstasy that was deepening into a prayer.
Mistress Clarke cried out--Bridget arose slowly, her gaze fixed on the
creature beyond: drawing her breath with a hissing sound, never moving
her terrible eyes, that were steady as stone, she made a dart at the
phantom, and caught, as I had done, a mere handful of empty air. We saw
no more of the creature--it vanished as suddenly as it came, but
Bridget looked slowly on, as if watching some receding form. Lucy sat
still, white, trembling, drooping--I think she would have swooned if I
had not been there to uphold her. While I was attending to her, Bridget
passed us, without a word to any one, and, entering her cottage, she
barred herself in, and left us without.

All our endeavours were now directed to get Lucy back to the house
where she had tarried the night before. Mistress Clarke told me that,
not hearing from me (some letter must have miscarried), she had grown
impatient and despairing, and had urged Lucy to the enterprise of
coming to seek her grandmother; not telling her, indeed, of the dread
reputation she possessed, or how we suspected her of having so
fearfully blighted that innocent girl; but, at the same time, hoping
much from the mysterious stirring of blood, which Mistress Clarke
trusted in for the removal of the curse. They had come, by a different
route from that which I had taken, to a village inn not far from
Coldholme, only the night before. This was the first interview between
ancestress and descendant.

All through the sultry noon I wandered along the tangled wood-paths of
the old neglected forest, thinking where to turn for remedy in a matter
so complicated and mysterious. Meeting a countryman, I asked my way to
the nearest clergyman, and went, hoping to obtain some counsel from
him. But he proved to be a coarse and common-minded man, giving no time
or attention to the intricacies of a case, but dashing out a strong
opinion involving immediate action. For instance, as s