gical imposture; and it somewhat relieves the disgust
with which we read, in the criminal records, the conviction of
these wretches, to be aware that many of them merited, as poisoners,
suborners, and diabolical agents in secret domestic crimes, the severe
fate to which they were condemned for the imaginary guilt of witchcraft.

Such was Aislie Gourlay, whom, in order to attain the absolute
subjugation of Lucy Ashton's mind, her mother thought it fitting to
place near her person. A woman of less consequence than Lady Ashton
had not dared to take such a step; but her high rank and strength of
character set her above the censure of the world, and she was allowed to
have selected for her daughter's attendant the best and most experienced
sick-nurse and "mediciner" in the neighbourhood, where an inferior
person would have fallen under the reproach of calling in the assistance
of a partner and ally of the great Enemy of mankind.

The beldam caught her cue readily and by innuendo, without giving
Lady Ashton the pain of distinct explanation. She was in many respects
qualified for the part she played, which indeed could not be efficiently
assumed without some knowledge of the human heart and passions. Dame
Gourlay perceived that Lucy shuddered at her external appearance, which
we have already described when we found her in the death-chamber of
blind Alice; and while internally she hated the poor girl for the
involuntary horror with which she saw she was regarded, she commenced
her operations by endeavouring to efface or overcome those prejudices
which, in her heart, she resented as mortal offences. This was easily
done, for the hag's external ugliness was soon balanced by a show of
kindness and interest, to which Lucy had of late been little accustomed;
her attentive services and real skill gained her the ear, if not the
confidence, of her patient; and under pretence of diverting the solitude
of a sick-room, she soon led her attention captive by the legends in
which she was well skilled, and to which Lucy's habit of reading and
reflection induced her to "lend an attentive ear." Dame Gourlay's tales
were at first of a mild and interesting character--

Of fays that nightly dance upon the wold,
And lovers doom'd to wander and to weep,
And castles high, where wicked wizards keep
Their captive thralls.

Gradually, however, they assumed a darker and more mysterious character,
and became such as, told by the mi