"I'll tell y' what I think," said Karon Boxall, "that child has been overlooked—ill-wished."
Mehetabel opened her eyes wide with terror.
"That's just about the long and short of it," continued Mrs. Boxall. "Do you see that little vein there, the color of 'urts. That's a sure sign. Some one bears the poor creature no love, and has cast an evil eye on it."
The unhappy mother's blood ran chill. This, which to us seems ridiculous and empty, was a grave and terrible reality to her mind.
"Who has done it?" she asked below her breath.
"That's not for me to say," answered the woman. "It is some one who doesn't love the babe, that's sure."
"A man or a woman?"
Mrs. Boxall stooped over the infant.
"A woman," she said, with assurance. "The dark vein be on the left han' side."
Mehetabel's thoughts ran to Sally Rocliffe. There was no other woman who could have felt ill-feeling against the hapless infant, now on her lap.