down the stream in the far distance. 'Ha! what is
that? I thought I saw a kind of Fata Morgana, green meadows, waving
groves, a rustic home; but in the far distance--I stared--I stared--a
Fata Morgana--it was gone. . . . '

I left the balustrade and walked to the farther end of the bridge, where
I stood for some time contemplating the crowd; I then passed over to the
other side with an intention of returning home; just half-way over the
bridge, in a booth immediately opposite to the one in which I had
formerly beheld her, sat my friend, the old apple-woman, huddled up
behind her stall.

'Well, mother,' said I, 'how are you?' The old woman lifted her head
with a startled look.

'Don't you know me?' said I.

'Yes, I think I do. Ah, yes,' said she, as her features beamed with
recollection, 'I know you, dear; you are the young lad that gave me the
tanner. Well, child, got anything to sell?'

'Nothing at all,' said I.

'Bad luck?'

'Yes,' said I, 'bad enough, and ill usage.'

'Ah, I suppose they caught ye; well, child, never mind, better luck next
time; I am glad to see you.'

'Thank you,' said I, sitting down on the stone bench; 'I thought you had
left the bridge--why have you changed your side?'

The old woman shook.

'What is the matter with you,' said I; 'are you ill?'

'No, child, no; only--'

'Only what? Any bad news of your son?'

'No, child, no; nothing about my son. Only low, child--every heart has
its bitters.'

'That's true,' said I; 'well, I don't want to know your sorrows; come,
where's the book?'

The apple-woman shook more violently than before, bent herself down, and
drew her cloak more closely about her than before. 'Book, child, what
book?'

'Why, blessed Mary, to be sure.'

'Oh, that; I ha'n't got it, child--I have lost it, have left it at home.'

'Lost it,' said I; 'left it at home--what do you mean? Come, let me have
it.'

'I ha'n't got it, child.'

'I believe you have got it under your cloak.'

'Don't tell any one, dear; don't--don't,' and the apple-woman burst into
tears.

'What's the matter with you?' said I, staring at her.

'You want to take my book from me?'

'Not I, I care nothing about it; keep it, if you like, only tell me
what's the matter?'

'Why, all about that book.'

'The book?'

'Yes, they wanted to take it from me.'

'Who did?'

'Why, some wicked boys. I'll tell you all about it. Eight or ten days
ago, I sat behind my stall, reading m