for him--but that he should send me money, money!--that I
have never forgiven; that he shall atone for in his grandchild." The
old woman spoke the last words as if in a dream, and without seeming to
remember her hearer. Ani shuddered, as if he were in the presence of a
mad woman, and he involuntarily drew his chair back a little way.

The witch observed this; she took breath and went on: "You lords, who
walk in high places, do not know how things go on in the depths beneath
you; you do not choose to know.

"But I will shorten my story. I got well, but I got out of my bed
thin and voiceless. I had plenty of money, and I spent it in buying of
everyone who professed magic in Thebes, potions to recover Assa's love
for me, or in paying for spells to be cast on him, or for magic drinks
to destroy him. I tried too to recover my voice, but the medicines I
took for it made it rougher not sweeter. Then an excommunicated priest,
who was famous among the magicians, took me into his house, and there I
learned many things; his old companions afterwards turned upon him, he
came over here into the Necropolis, and I came with him. When at last
he was taken and hanged, I remained in his cave, and myself took to
witchcraft. Children point their fingers at me, honest men and women
avoid me, I am an abomination to all men, nay to myself. And one only
is guilty of all this ruin--the noblest gentleman in Thebes--the pious
Assa.

"I had practised magic for several years, and had become learned in many
arts, when one day the gardener Sent, from whom I was accustomed to buy
plants for my mixtures--he rents a plot of ground from the temple of
Seti--Sent brought me a new-born child that had been born with six toes;
I was to remove the supernumerary toe by my art. The pious mother of the
child was lying ill of fever, or she never would have allowed it; I took
the screaming little wretch--for such things are sometimes curable. The
next morning, a few hours after sunrise, there was a bustle in front of
my cave; a maid, evidently belonging to a noble house, was calling
me. Her mistress, she said, had come with her to visit the tomb of her
fathers, and there had been taken ill, and had given birth to a child.
Her mistress was lying senseless--I must go at once, and help her. I
took the little six-toed brat in my cloak, told my slavegirl to follow
me with water, and soon found myself--as thou canst guess--at the tomb
of Assa's ancestors. The poor woma