J. S. Le Fanus Ghostly Tales, Volume 5 | Page 4

doin's;
and up they gits to dance; and says a tall fella I didna see afoore, 'Ye
mun step across, and dance wi' a young lord that's faan in luv wi' thee,
and that's mysel',' and sure enow I keeked at him under my lashes and a
conny lad he is, to my teyaste, though he be dressed in black, wi' sword
and sash, velvet twice as fine as they sells in the shop at Gouden Friars;
and keekin' at me again fra the corners o' his een. And the same fella
telt me he was mad in luv wi' me, and his fadder was there, and his
sister, and they came all the way from Catstean Castle to see me that
night; and that's t' other side o' Gouden Friars."

"Come, lass, yer no mafflin; tell me true. What was he like? Was his
feyace grimed wi' sut? a tall fella wi' wide shouthers, and lukt like an
ill-thing, wi' black clothes amaist in rags?"
"His feyace was long, but weel-faured, and darker nor a gipsy; and his
clothes were black and grand, and made o' velvet, and he said he was
the young lord himsel'; and he lukt like it."
"That will be the same fella I sid at Deadman's Grike," said Mall Carke,
with an anxious frown.
"Hoot, mudder! how cud that be?" cried the lass, with a toss of her
pretty head and a smile of scorn. But the fortune-teller made no answer,
and the girl went on with her story.
"When they began to dance," continued Laura Silver Bell, "he urged
me again, but I wudna step o'er; 'twas partly pride, coz I wasna dressed
fine enough, and partly contrairiness, or something, but gaa I wudna,
not a fut. No but I more nor half wished it a' the time."
"Weel for thee thou dudstna cross the brook."
"Hoity-toity, why not?"
"Keep at heyame after nightfall, and don't ye be walking by yersel' by
daylight or any light lang lonesome ways, till after ye're baptised," said
Mall Carke.
"I'm like to be married first."
"Tak care that marriage won't hang i' the bell-ropes," said Mother
Carke.
"Leave me alane for that. The young lord said he was maist daft wi' luv
o' me. He wanted to gie me a conny ring wi' a beautiful stone in it. But,
drat it, I was sic an awpy I wudna tak it, and he a young lord!"
"Lord, indeed! are ye daft or dreamin'? Those fine folk, what were they?
I'll tell ye. Dobies and fairies; and if ye don't du as yer bid, they'll tak

ye, and ye'll never git out o' their hands again while grass grows," said
the old woman grimly.
"Od wite it!" replies the girl impatiently, "who's daft or dreamin' noo?
I'd a bin dead wi' fear, if 'twas any such thing. It cudna be; all was sa
luvesome, and bonny, and shaply."
"Weel, and what do ye want o' me, lass?" asked the old woman sharply.
"I want to know--here's t' sixpence--what I sud du," said the young lass.
"'Twud be a pity to lose such a marrow, hey?"
"Say yer prayers, lass; I can't help ye," says the old woman darkly. "If
ye gaa wi' the people, ye'll never come back. Ye munna talk wi' them,
nor eat wi' them, nor drink wi' them, nor tak a pin's-worth by way o' gift
fra them--mark weel what I say--or ye're _lost!_"
The girl looked down, plainly much vexed.
The old woman stared at her with a mysterious frown steadily, for a
few seconds.
"Tell me, lass, and tell me true, are ye in luve wi' that lad?"
"What for sud I?" said the girl with a careless toss of her head, and
blushing up to her very temples.
"I see how it is," said the old woman, with a groan, and repeated the
words, sadly thinking; and walked out of the door a step or two, and
looked jealously round. "The lass is witched, the lass is witched!"
"Did ye see him since?" asked Mother Carke, returning.
The girl was still embarrassed; and now she spoke in a lower tone, and
seemed subdued.
"I thought I sid him as I came here, walkin' beside me among the trees;
but I consait it was only the trees themsels that lukt like rinnin' one
behind another, as I walked on."

"I can tell thee nowt, lass, but what I telt ye afoore," answered the old
woman peremptorily. "Get ye heyame, and don't delay on the way; and
say yer prayers as ye gaa; and let none but good thoughts come nigh ye;
and put nayer foot autside the door-steyan again till ye gaa to be
christened; and get that done a Sunda' next."
And with this charge,