'See, see the swell beneath that large black rock yonder! The tide is making fast; we must get quickly down if you wish to test St. Senan's power.'

I had no time left me to ask what peculiar virtues the saint dispensed through the mediation of his well, when she broke from my side and hurried down the steep descent. In a moment we had reached the shore, upon which already the tide was fast encroaching, and had marked with its dark stain the yellow sand within a few feet of the well. As we drew nearer, I perceived the figure of an old woman hent with age, who seemed busily occupied sprinkling the water of the spring over something that, as I came closer, seemed like a sailor's jacket. She was repeating some words rapidly to herself; but on hearing our approach, she quickly collected her bundle together under her remnant of a cloak, and sat waiting our approach in silence.

'It's Molly Ban!' said Louisa suddenly, and growing pale as she spoke. 'Give her something, if you have any money, I beseech you.'

There was no opportunity for inquiring further about her now, for the old woman slowly rose from the stone by the aid of a stick, and stood confronting us. Her figure was singularly short, scarce four feet in height; but her head was enormously large, and her features, which were almost terrific in ugliness, were swarthy as a gypsy's. A man's hat was fastened upon her head by a red kerchief which was knotted beneath her chin; a short cloak of faded scarlet, like what the peasantry of the west usually wear, covered her shoulders, beneath which a patched and many-coloured petticoat appeared, that reached to the middle of her legs, which, as well as her feet, were completely naked, giving the old woman a look of wildness and poverty which I cannot attempt to convey. The most singular part of her costume, however, was a rude collar she wore round her neck of sea-shells, among which, here and there, I could detect some bits of painted and gilded carving, like fragments of a wreck. This strange apparition now stood opposite me, her dark eyes fixed steadily on my companion, to whom, unlike the people of the country, she never made the slightest reverence, or showed any semblance of respect.

'And was it to spy after me, Miss Loo, ye brought down yer sweetheart to the well this evening?' said the hag, in a harsh, grating voice, that seemed the very last effort of some suppressed passion.

Louisa's arm grasped mine, and I could feel it tremble with agitation as she whispered in my ear—

'Give her money quickly; I know her.'

'And is your father going to send me back to jail because the cattle's got the rot amongst them? Ha, ha, ha!' said she, breaking into a wild, discordant laugh. 'There will be more mourning than for that at Castle Bellew before long.'

Louisa leaned against me, faint and almost falling, while drawing out my purse hastily I held forth my hand full of silver. The old hag clutched at it eagerly, and as her dark eyes flashed fire, she thrust the money into a pocket at her side, and again broke out into a horrid laugh.

'So, you're beginnin' to know me, are ye? Ye won't mock Molly Ban now, eh? No, 'faith, nor Mary Lafferty either, that turned me from the door and shut it agin me. Where 'll her pride be to-morrow night, when they bring in her husband a corpse to her? Look at that!'