hts he was aroused by a loud knocking at the door. He
opened it, and a servant in evident terror entered, saying, "Oh!
gracious count, I was afraid you were ill, or perhaps dead, for I have
been knocking for a long time, without receiving any answer from your
lordship." "What do you want?" "The eldest of these hideous witches,"
replied the servant, "insists on speaking to you for a minute before
she leaves the castle. She will not be refused, and the most severe
threats and curses avail nothing with the old woman." The count
ordered the ill-used woman to be led to his room. The appearance of
the poor creature was frightful, and the count himself started back
with horror, when she presented herself covered with blood, her face
and arms lacerated, and a deep wound in her head, which was still
uncovered. "I thank you," she said, "kind brother, for the Christian
kindness that you have shown me in your palace. You are, indeed, a
virtuous man, a persecutor of vice, an impartial judge, and a punisher
of crimes; and I suppose you would call yourself an avenging angel in
the service of your God. Do you know then, tender-hearted man, why we
were sitting by the bedside of your wife? We had, indeed, told her
fortune, but the real object of our visit was to speak to you, and you
were not in your hospitable house. It was our wish to separate from
the gang, and seek a humble and honest living. We know the haunt where
the leader conceals himself, that notorious incendiary whom you have so
long sought in vain, and intended to deliver him into your hands; but
you are worse than the most atrocious of our gang, and as you have
shown us to-day so much kindness, a curse for it shall light upon you,
your family, and your offspring, to the third and fourth generation."

The count, who had now repented of his hasty wrath, wished to appease
the awful woman, by speaking kindly to her, and offering her, by way of
reconciliation, his purse well filled with gold. She cast an evil,
though covetous look at the gold, and, grinding her teeth, threw the
purse at the count's feet. "That mammon," she cried, "would have made
me and my poor sister happy, but after the meal you have given us, I
would rather gnaw the bark of trees than receive the wealth from your
accursed hands." Various and many were the curses she continued
heaping on him, and the torments and misfortunes she denounced against
him and his house. When she had finished, she tot