is
we did, I and my sister, without saying a word, and then we again
sank on our chairs on either side of the fire. I was tired, and
as the clock went tick-a-tick, I began to feel myself dozing. I
did doze, I believe. All of a sudden I sprang up. The clock was
striking one, two, but ere it could give the third chime, mercy
upon us! we heard the gate slam to with a tremendous noise...."

"Well, and what happened then?"

"Happened! before I could recover myself, my sister had sprung to
the door, and both locked and bolted it. The next moment she was
in convulsions. I scarcely knew what happened; and yet it
appeared to me for a moment that something pressed against the
door with a low moaning sound. Whether it was the wind or not, I
can't say. I shall never forget that night. About two hours
later, my father came home. He had been set upon by a highwayman
whom he beat off."

BORROW: _Lavengro._

Freya and Odin especially had had power over the souls of the dead.
When Christianity turned all the old gods into spirits of evil,
these two were accused especially of possessing unlawful learning,
as having knowledge of the hidden matters of death. This unlawful
wisdom is the first accusation that has always been brought against
witches. A mirror is often used to contain it. Such are the
crystals of the astrologers, and the looking-glasses which on
Hallowe'en materialize wishes.

From that time in the Middle Ages when witches were first heard of,
it has nearly always been women who were accused. Women for the
most part were the priests in the old days: it was a woman to whom
Apollo at Delphi breathed his oracles. In all times it has been
women who plucked herbs and concocted drinks of healing and
refreshment. So it was very easy to imagine that they experimented
with poisons and herbs of magic power under the guidance of the now
evil gods. If they were so directed, they must go on occasions to
consult with their masters. The idea arose of a witches' Sabbath,
when women were enabled by evil means to fly away, and adore in
secret the gods from whom the rest of the world had turned. There
were such meeting-places all over Europe. They had been places of
sacrifice, of judgment, or of wells and springs considered holy
under the old religion, and whither the gods had now been banished.
The most famous was the Blocksberg in the Hartz mountains in
Germa