XXXVII
It was at the time of the ripened grapes, in the wine month and the fourth day of it, when in the city of Brussels they throw, from the top of the tower of Saint Nicholas after high mass, bags of walnuts down to the people.
At night Nele was awakened by cries coming from the street. She looked for Katheline in the room and found her not. She ran down and opened the door, and Katheline came in saying:
“Save me! Save me! the wolf! the wolf!”
And Nele heard in the country far-off howlings. Trembling, she lighted all the lamps, wax tapers, and candles.
“What has happened, Katheline?” said she, clasping her in her arms.
Katheline sat down, with haggard eyes, and said, looking at the candles:
“’Tis the sun, he driveth away evil spirits. The wolf, the wolf is howling in the countryside.”
“But,” said Nele, “why did you leave your bed where you were warm, to go and take a fever in the damp nights of September?”
And Katheline said: