“You won't be frightened, then, Nora?”
“Frightened? No. Not of our own Banshee.”
“They say,” began Biddy, “that if you see a spirit, and come face to face with it, you are good for—”
“What?” said Nora.
“If you hold out during the year you have seen the spirit, you are good to live for another ten; but during that first year you are in extreme danger of dying. If you escape that fate, however, and are whole and sound, you will be quite safe to live for ten more years. They say nothing can send you out of the world; not sickness, nor accidents, nor fire, nor water; but the second year you are liable to an accident, and the year after to a misfortune; then in the fourth year your luck turns—in the fourth year you find gold, in the fifth year health, in the sixth year beauty. Oh, I would give anything to be beautiful!”
“You are very well as you are, Biddy.”
“Very well as I am? What nonsense! Look at my turned-up nose.” Here Biddy pressed her finger on the feature in question.
“It looks very racy,” answered Nora.
“Bedad, then, it does that,” replied Biddy. “I believe I got it sound and safe from one of the old——”
“You needn't go on,” cried Nora. “I know what you are going to say.”