e my
eyes off her; my very heart stood still. And in an instant she opens
her eyes and up she sits, and spins herself round, and down wi' her,
wi' a clack on her two tall heels on the floor, facin' me, ogglin' in
my face wi' her two great glassy eyes, and a wicked simper wi' her
wrinkled lips, and lang fause teeth.

"Well, a corpse is a natural thing; but this was the dreadfullest
sight I ever sid. She had her fingers straight out pointin' at me, and
her back was crooked, round again wi' age. Says she:

"'Ye little limb! what for did ye say I killed the boy? I'll tickle ye
till ye're stiff!'

"If I'd a thought an instant, I'd a turned about and run. But I
couldn't take my eyes off her, and I backed from her as soon as I
could; and she came clatterin' after like a thing on wires, with her
fingers pointing to my throat, and she makin' all the time a sound
with her tongue like zizz-zizz-zizz.

"I kept backin' and backin' as quick as I could, and her fingers was
only a few inches away from my throat, and I felt I'd lose my wits if
she touched me.

"I went back this way, right into the corner, and I gev a yellock,
ye'd think saul and body was partin', and that minute my aunt, from
the door, calls out wi' a blare, and the ald lady turns round on her,
and I turns about, and ran through my room, and down the stairs, as
hard as my legs could carry me.

"I cried hearty, I can tell you, when I got down to the housekeeper's
room. Mrs. Wyvern laughed a deal when I told her what happened. But
she changed her key when she heard the ald lady's words.

"'Say them again,' says she.

"So I told her.

"'Ye little limb! What for did ye say I killed the boy? I'll tickle ye
till ye're stiff.'

"'And did ye say she killed a boy?' says she.

"'Not I, ma'am,' says I.

"Judith was always up with me, after that, when the two elder women was
away from her. I would a jumped out at winda, rather than stay alone
in the same room wi' her.

"It was about a week after, as well as I can remember, Mrs. Wyvern,
one day when me and her was alone, told me a thing about Madam Crowl
that I did not know before.

"She being young and a great beauty, full seventy year before, had
married Squire Crowl, of Applewale. But he was a widower, and had a
son about nine years old.

"There never was tale or tidings of this boy after one mornin'. No one
could say where he went to. He was allowed too much liberty, and used
to be off in the morning, one d