It was just the stimulus the child wanted. She mopped away her tears, and piled wood on the fire and set it alight; and Pincher, the dog, licked the poor old woman’s face and hands with his warm, moist tongue.
Their efforts were not in vain, and they soon had the joy of seeing her open her eyes and stretch out her hands to the blaze.
‘Thank you for all your kindness, dear Pincher,’ said Betty, when the dog said he must go. ‘If I can ever do you a kindness in return, just ask me and I’ll do it if I can.’
‘Remember me when you can fly up the witch’s stairs,’ said the dog, with an appealing look in his eyes that Betty never forgot.
‘Then you really believe I shall be able to fly up those stairs some day?’ she asked.
‘I am almost certain you will, and so is the witch. You cannot live with people for generations without being able to read their faces. The witch’s face is an open book to me now, and it tells me that she is not only afraid you will fly, but that it will happen soon. So fearful is she of this that a few days ago she actually wove another spell on the door leading up to the tower where the little maids who played the game are kept.’
‘Do you ever get mouth-speech with the poor little dears?’ asked Betty wistfully.
‘Never. But I sometimes see them at the barred window of their chamber. It isn’t often they have time even for that, for the old witch keeps them spinning all day long. Farewell, dear! I must go. If the faggot of sticks is all burnt and the turf before the cold goes, don’t go out again in search of more firewood. There is danger abroad. If the Wise Woman is in danger of sinking under the cold, just lay your warm heart against her heart, and all will be well.’
The dreadful weather still continued, and when the faggot was all burnt, the dame again began to shiver and shake with cold, and said she should die this time, as there was no warmth left to keep life in her.
Betty was once more greatly distressed on her old friend’s account, and declared she would go out on the downs to look for firewood in spite of what might happen to herself; but as she was going, the Wise Woman again tumbled, face down, on the fireless hearth.