"I fear your dress is not warm enough," said Mrs. Carleton. "You must suffer from the cold."
"Suffer," shrieked Louisita, "I have known nothing else than suffering for twenty winters and summers, and they the accursed sex caused it all by their passion for the fiery cup; it soddened their brains; it poisoned every good feeling in their hearts. It buried my husband under the ruins of the tower; it bereft me of my home; it caused my two babes to die of cold and hunger in this tomb."
"Poor Louisita," said Mrs. Carleton, "if you will come back with us to the castle I will find some warm dresses and other comforts for you."
"Never," she replied; "it is haunted. I have not been into it since I came away with my babes the morning after the tower fell."
"Why do you think it is haunted?" asked Mrs. Carleton.
"I know it is because I hear them shrieking in the night, and I hear Donna Inez calling, 'Open the gate.'"
"I will not ask you to come inside, Louisita, but if you will only come up the outside steps to the door I will get you anything you wish for."
"I want food; I want warm clothes; I want something to cover my bed."
"You shall have it," said Mrs. Carleton. "I feel very sorry for you; I wish to make you happy."
"Ha! ha! happy," she repeated. Then looking toward Miss Vyvyan she continued, "Make her take that child out of my sight. She brings it here to mock me. I will run my sword through her heart if ever she brings that child here again."