“So patient and so good; and you will not heed what they say about us, sir?”
“Not I,” said Geoffrey.
“They say, you know, that she’s almost a wise woman; and they’ve been very bitter against us ever since Mrs Polwhyn’s cow died.”
“Indeed!”
“Oh yes,” said the poor woman, earnestly; “they say Bess ill-wished it, and that she has ill-wished Mrs Vorr’s boy, who is a cripple.”
“You are a curious set of people down here,” said Geoffrey; “but do you mean to tell me that they believe such things as that?”
“Indeed they do,” said the poor woman, with tears in her eyes.
“And about witches?”
“Oh yes,” she said, laying her hand on the big Bible by her side; “and, of course, that is true, sir. You know King Saul went to see the witch of Endor.”
“Yes,” said Geoffrey, dryly.