Part 46 (1/2)

I had no time left me to ask what peculiar virtues the saint dispensed through the mediation of his well, when she broke from my side and hurried down the steep descent. In a moment we had reached the sh.o.r.e, upon which already the tide was fast encroaching, and had marked with its dark stain the yellow sand within a few feet of the well. As we drew nearer, I perceived the figure of an old woman hent with age, who seemed busily occupied sprinkling the water of the spring over something that, as I came closer, seemed like a sailor's jacket. She was repeating some words rapidly to herself; but on hearing our approach, she quickly collected her bundle together under her remnant of a cloak, and sat waiting our approach in silence.

'It's Molly Ban!' said Louisa suddenly, and growing pale as she spoke.

'Give her something, if you have any money, I beseech you.'

There was no opportunity for inquiring further about her now, for the old woman slowly rose from the stone by the aid of a stick, and stood confronting us. Her figure was singularly short, scarce four feet in height; but her head was enormously large, and her features, which were almost terrific in ugliness, were swarthy as a gypsy's. A man's hat was fastened upon her head by a red kerchief which was knotted beneath her chin; a short cloak of faded scarlet, like what the peasantry of the west usually wear, covered her shoulders, beneath which a patched and many-coloured petticoat appeared, that reached to the middle of her legs, which, as well as her feet, were completely naked, giving the old woman a look of wildness and poverty which I cannot attempt to convey.

The most singular part of her costume, however, was a rude collar she wore round her neck of sea-sh.e.l.ls, among which, here and there, I could detect some bits of painted and gilded carving, like fragments of a wreck. This strange apparition now stood opposite me, her dark eyes fixed steadily on my companion, to whom, unlike the people of the country, she never made the slightest reverence, or showed any semblance of respect.

'And was it to spy after me, Miss Loo, ye brought down yer sweetheart to the well this evening?' said the hag, in a harsh, grating voice, that seemed the very last effort of some suppressed pa.s.sion.

Louisa's arm grasped mine, and I could feel it tremble with agitation as she whispered in my ear--

'Give her money quickly; I know her.'

'And is your father going to send me back to jail because the cattle's got the rot amongst them? Ha, ha, ha!' said she, breaking into a wild, discordant laugh. 'There will be more mourning than for that at Castle Bellew before long.'

Louisa leaned against me, faint and almost falling, while drawing out my purse hastily I held forth my hand full of silver. The old hag clutched at it eagerly, and as her dark eyes flashed fire, she thrust the money into a pocket at her side, and again broke out into a horrid laugh.

'So, you're beginnin' to know me, are ye? Ye won't mock Molly Ban now, eh? No, 'faith, nor Mary Lafferty either, that turned me from the door and shut it agin me. Where 'll her pride be to-morrow night, when they bring in her husband a corpse to her? Look at that!'

With these words she threw her cloak on one side, and showed the blue jacket of a fisherman which I had seen her sprinkling with the water as we came up.

'The blue water will be his winding-sheet this night, calm as it is now.'

'Oh, Molly dear, don't speak this way!'

'Molly dear!' echoed the beldame, in an accent of biting derision. 'Who ever heerd one of your name call me that? Or are ye come for a charm for that young man beside you? See, now! the sun's just gone; in a minit more the sea 'll be in, and it'll be too late. Here, come near me! kneel down there! kneel down, I say! or is it only my curse ye mind?'

'She's mad, poor thing,' said I, in my companion's ear. 'Let her have her way; do as she bids you.'

Sinking with terror, pale as death, and trembling all over, Louisa bent one knee upon the little rock beside the well, while the old hag took her fair hand within her own skinny fingers and plunged it rudely in the well.

'There, drink,' said the old woman, offering me the fair palm, through which the clear water was running rapidly, while she chanted rather than spoke the rude rhyme that follows--

'By the setting sun, The flowing sea, The waters that run, I swear to thee That my faith shall be true, at this moment now, In weal or in woe, wherever or how: So help me, Saint Senan, to keep my vow!'

The last words had scarcely been uttered when Louisa, who apparently had been too much overcome by terror to hear one word the hag had muttered, sprang up from the stone, her face and neck covered with a deep blush, her lip trembling with agitation, while her eyes were fixedly directed towards the old woman with an expression of haughty anger.

'Ay, ye may look as proud as ye like. It's little I mind ye, in love or in hate. Ye are well humbled enough now. And as for you,' said she, turning towards me a look of scornful pity--'you, I wish ye joy of your fair sweetheart; let her only keep her troth like her own mother, and ye'll have a happy heart to sit at your fireside with.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: 442]

The blood fled from Louisa's cheek as these words were uttered; a deadly paleness spread over her features; her lips were bloodless and parted; and her hands firmly clenched together and pressed against her side, bespoke the agony of the moment. It lasted not longer; for she fell back fainting and insensible into my arms. I bathed her face and temples from the well; I called upon her, rubbed her hands within my own, and endeavoured by every means to arouse her; but in vain. I turned to beg for aid from the woman, but she was gone. I again endeavoured to awake Louisa from her stupor, but she lay cold, rigid, and motionless; her features had stiffened like a corpse, and showed no touch of life.

I shouted aloud for aid; but, alas! we were far from all human habitations, and the wild cries of the curlew were the only sounds that met my ear, or the deep rus.h.i.+ng of the sea, as it broke nearer and nearer to where I stood. A sudden pang of horror shot across me as I looked around and below, and saw no chance of aid from any quarter.

Already the sun was below the horizon, and the grey twilight gave but gloomy indications all around. The sea, too, was coming fast; the foam had reached us, and even now the salt tide had mingled its water with the little spring. No more time was to be lost. A projecting point of rock intervened between us and the little path by which we had descended to the beach; over this the spray was now splas.h.i.+ng, and its base was only to be seen at intervals between the advancing or retiring wave.

A low, wailing sound, like distant wind, was creeping over the water, which from time to time was curled along the round-backed wave with all the threatening aspect of a coming storm; the sea-birds wheeled round in circles, waking the echoes with their wild notes, and the heavy swell of the breaking sea roared through many a rocky cavern with a sad and mournful melody. I threw one last look above, where the tall beetling cliff was lost in the gloom of coming night, another on the broad bleak ocean, and then, catching up my companion in my arms, set forward.