nd sank, and the wild elves laughed
Till the mountain rang and mire.
But oh! the fire yet burns in my brain,
And the hour is gone, and comes not again.

"O maiden, why waxed thy faith so faint,
Thy spirit so slack and slaw?
Thy courage kept good till the flame waxed wud,
Then thy might begun to thaw;
Had ye kissed him with thy christened lip,
Ye had wan him frae 'mang us a'.
Now bless the fire, the elfin fire,
That made thee faint and fa';
Now bless the fire, the elfin fire,
The longer it burns it blazes the higher."

"At the close of this unusual strain, the figure sat down on the grass,
and proceeded to bind up her long and disordered tresses, gazing along
the old and unfrequented road. 'Now God be my helper,' said the
traveller, who happened to be the laird of Johnstone Bank, 'can this be a
trick of the fiend, or can it be bonnie Phemie Irving who chants this
dolorous sang? Something sad has befallen that makes her seek her seat
in this eerie nook amid the darkness and tempest; through might from
aboon I will go on and see.' And the horse, feeling something of the
owner's reviving spirit in the application of spur-steel, bore him at
once to the foot of the tree. The poor delirious maiden uttered a yell
of piercing joy as she beheld him, and, with the swiftness of a creature
winged, linked her arms round the rider's waist, and shrieked till the
woods rang. 'Oh, I have ye now, Elphin, I have ye now,' and she strained
him to her bosom with a convulsive grasp. 'What ails ye, my bonnie
lass?' said the laird of Johnstone Bank, his fears of the supernatural
vanishing when he beheld her sad and bewildered look. She raised her
eyes at the sound, and seeing a strange face, her arms slipped their
hold, and she dropped with a groan on the ground.

"The morning had now fairly broke; the flocks shook the rain from their
sides, the shepherds hastened to inspect their charges, and a thin blue
smoke began to stream from the cottages of the valley into the
brightening air. The laird carried Phemie Irving in his arms, till he
observed two shepherds ascending from one of the loops of Corriewater,
bearing the lifeless body of her brother. They had found him whirling
round and round in one of the numerous eddies, and his hands, clutched
and filled with wool, showed that he had lost his life in attempting to
save the flock of his sister. A plaid was laid over the body, w