ot in their veins; and looking along the water not a hundred yards
away, saw the same grizzled sight in the moonlight; so they turned the
tiller, and came near enough to see her face--blea it was, and drenched
wi' water--and she was above the lake to her middle, stiff as a post,
holdin' the weeny barn out to them, and flyrin' [smiling scornfully] on
them as they drew nigh her. They were half-frighted, not knowing what to
make of it; but passing as close as the boatman could bring her side,
the vicar stretched over the gunwale to catch her, and she bent forward,
pushing the dead bab forward; and as she did, on a sudden she gave a
yelloch that scared them, and they saw her no more. 'Twas no livin'
woman, for she couldn't rise that height above the water, as they well
knew when they came to think; and knew it was a dobby they saw; and ye
may be sure they didn't spare prayer and blessin', and went on their
course straight before the wind; for neither would a-took the worth o'
all the Mardykes to look sich a freetin' i' the face again. 'Twas seen
another time by market-folk crossin' fra Gyllenstan in the self-same
place; and Snakes Island got a bad neam, and none cared to go nar it
after nightfall."

"Do you know anything of that Feltram that has been with him abroad?"
asked the Doctor.

"They say he's no good at anything--a harmless mafflin; he was a long
gaumless gawky when he went awa," said Richard Turnbull. "The Feltrams
and the Mardykes was sib, ye know; and that made what passed in the
misfortune o' that young lady spoken of all the harder; and this young
man ye speak of is a grandson o' the lad that was put here in care o' my
grandfather."

"_Great_-grandson. His father was grandson," said Mr. Peers; "he held a
commission in the army and died in the West Indies. This Philip Feltram
is the last o' that line--illegitimate, you know, it is held--and the
little that remained of the Feltram property went nearly fourscore years
ago to the Mardykes, and this Philip is maintained by Sir Bale; it is
pleasant, notwithstanding all the stories one hears, gentlemen, that the
only thing we know of him for certain should be so creditable to his
kindness."

"To be sure," acquiesced Mr. Turnbull.

While they talked the horn sounded, and the mail-coach drew up at the
door of the George and Dragon to set down a passenger and his luggage.

Dick Turnbull rose and went out to the hall with careful bustle, and
Doctor Torvey followed