room he was joyfully admitted by
honest Betty, who knew his soft honest brogue in a panic, the violence
of which had almost superseded her grief. So he consoled and fortified
the poor lady as well as he could, and when she urged him to remain in
the house all night.

'My dear Ma'am,' says he, lifting his hand and shaking his head, with
closed eyes, 'you forget my ca_rac_ter. Why, the house is full iv
faymales. My darlin' Mrs. Nutther, I--I couldn't enthertain sich an
idaya; and, besides,' said he, with sudden energy, recollecting that the
goose might be overdone, 'there's a religious duty, my dear Ma'am--the
holy sacrament waitin'--a pair to be married; but Pat Moran will keep
them quiet till mornin,' and I'll be down myself to see you then. So my
sarvice to you, Mrs. Nutther, and God bless you, my dear Ma'am.'

And with this valediction the priest departed, and from the road he
looked back at the familiar outline of the Mills, and its thick clumps
of chimneys, and two twinkling lights, and thought of the horrible and
sudden change that had passed over the place and the inmates, and how a
dreadful curse had scathed them: making it, till lately the scene of
comfort and tranquillity, to become the hold of every foul spirit, and
the cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Doctor Toole arrived at ten o'clock next morning, with news that shook
the village. The inquest was postponed to the evening, to secure the
attendance of some witnesses, who could throw a light, it was thought,
on the enquiry. Then Doctor Toole was examined, and identified the body
at first, confidently.

'But,' said he, in the great parlour of the Phoenix, where he held
forth, 'though the features were as like as two eggs, it struck me the
forehead was a thought broader. So, said I, I can set the matter at rest
in five minutes. Charles Nutter's left upper arm was broken midway, and
I set it; there would be the usual deposit where the bone knit, and he
had a sword thrust through his right shoulder, cicatrised, and very well
defined; and he had lost two under-teeth. Well, the teeth _were_ gone,
but three instead of two, and on laying the arm-bone bare, 'twas plain
it had never been broken, and, in like manner, nothing wrong with the
right shoulder, and there was nothing like so much deltoid and biceps as
Nutter had. So says I, at once, be that body whose it may, 'tis none of
Charles Nutter's, and to that I swear, gentlemen; and I had hardly made
an en