ve them alone together,
poor little empty Mrs. Nutter lost heart, and began to feel very queer,
and to wish herself well out of the affair; and, indeed, was almost
ready to take to her heels and leave the two ladies in possession of the
house, but she had not decision for this.

'And mayn't Mrs. Mack stay in the room with us?' she asked, following
that good lady's retreating figure with an imploring look.

'By no means.'

This was addressed sternly to Mrs. Mack herself, who, followed by poor
Mrs. Nutter's eyes, moved fatly and meekly out of the room.

She was not without her fair share of curiosity, but on the whole, was
relieved, and very willing to go. She had only seen Mary Matchwell take
from her pocket and uncase a small, oval-shaped steel mirror, which
seemed to have the property of magnifying objects; for she saw her
cadaverous fingers reflected in it to fully double their natural size,
and she had half filled a glass with water, and peered through it askew,
holding it toward the light.

Well, the door was shut, and an interval of five minutes elapsed; and
all of a sudden two horrible screams in quick succession rang through
the house.

Betty, the maid, and Mrs. Mack were in the small room on the other side
of the hall, and stared in terror on one another. The old lady, holding
Betty by the wrist, whispered a benediction; and Betty crying--'Oh! my
dear, what's happened the poor misthress?' crossed the hall in a second,
followed by Mrs. Mack, and they heard the door unlocked on the inside as
they reached it.

In they came, scarce knowing how, and found poor little Mrs. Nutter flat
upon the floor, in a swoon, her white face and the front of her dress
drenched with water.

'You've a scent bottle, Mrs. Macnamara--let her smell to it,' said the
grim woman in black, coldly, but with a scarcely perceptible gleam of
triumph, as she glanced on the horrified faces of the women.

Well, it was a long fainting-fit; but she did come out of it. And when
her bewildered gaze at last settled upon Mrs. Matchwell, who was
standing darkly and motionless between the windows, she uttered another
loud and horrible cry, and clung with her arms round Mrs. Mack's neck,
and screamed--

'Oh! Mrs. Mack, _there_ she is--_there_ she is--_there_ she is.'

And she screamed so fearfully and seemed in such an extremity of terror,
that Mary Matchwell, in her sables, glided, with a strange sneer on her
pale face, out of the room across