[[2]] Young people are usually in haste. They always aim to reach the end of things at once; they cannot wait.—ED.
'Oh, no, mistress! You must not, indeed you must not interfere!' cried the terrified woman.
'Hold thy tongue, Betsy,' said I. 'I shall go to them and speak,' and in my heart I prayed for help where Master Montgomery said it would never be denied.
And then I advanced towards the roughs, who turned to look at me in amazement.
In a tone and in a manner of authority, for my father always said that it was no use speaking otherwise to knaves, I bade them cease from persecuting a poor old woman who might be innocent of all offence, and passionately adjured them to refrain from violence.
The effect of this was marvellous. Releasing their victim, they fell back, and she, poor soul, knelt on the grass before me, crying out for mercy and catching hold of the border of my gown.
'What has she done?' I asked.
A Babel of voices answered. The old woman had brought disease on Farmer North's cattle. She had turned her evil eye on a young woman who had straightway sickened and died. She had looked on a man as he rode to market and his horse had run away, thrown him off and killed him. Last of all she had spirited away her own orphan grandson, a boy of great promise, who had been committed to her care by his deceased parents and of whom she had professed to be very fond. This young man was believed to have been sent through the earth to the abodes of the lost.
'I did not do it, lady! I did not! Saul was the darling of my old age. I know no more than they where he has gone. I am no witch. Ask the minister; he knows.'
This and much more cried the poor old dame in quavering tones.