as she clung to
the Athenian's breast.

'Oh, away, away!' groaned the slave, 'it is the Witch of Vesuvius!'

'Who are ye?' said a hollow and ghostly voice. 'And what do ye here?'

The sound, terrible and deathlike as it was--suiting well the
countenance of the speaker, and seeming rather the voice of some
bodiless wanderer of the Styx than living mortal, would have made Ione
shrink back into the pitiless fury of the storm, but Glaucus, though not
without some misgiving, drew her into the cavern.

'We are storm-beaten wanderers from the neighboring city,' said he, 'and
decoyed hither by yon light; we crave shelter and the comfort of your
hearth.'

As he spoke, the fox rose from the ground, and advanced towards the
strangers, showing, from end to end, its white teeth, and deepening in
its menacing growl.

'Down, slave!' said the witch; and at the sound of her voice the beast
dropped at once, covering its face with its brush, and keeping only its
quick, vigilant eye fixed upon the invaders of its repose. 'Come to the
fire if ye will!' said she, turning to Glaucus and his companions. 'I
never welcome living thing--save the owl, the fox, the toad, and the
viper--so I cannot welcome ye; but come to the fire without welcome--why
stand upon form?'

The language in which the hag addressed them was a strange and barbarous
Latin, interlarded with many words of some more rude, and ancient
dialect. She did not stir from her seat, but gazed stonily upon them as
Glaucus now released Ione of her outer wrapping garments, and making her
place herself on a log of wood, which was the only other seat he
perceived at hand--fanned with his breath the embers into a more glowing
flame. The slave, encouraged by the boldness of her superiors, divested
herself also of her long palla, and crept timorously to the opposite
corner of the hearth.

'We disturb you, I fear,' said the silver voice of Ione, in
conciliation.

The witch did not reply--she seemed like one who has awakened for a
moment from the dead, and has then relapsed once more into the eternal
slumber.

'Tell me,' said she, suddenly, and after a long pause, 'are ye brother
and sister?'

'No,' said Ione, blushing.

'Are ye married?'

'Not so,' replied Glaucus.

'Ho, lovers!--ha!--ha!--ha!' and the witch laughed so loud and so long
that the caverns rang again.

The heart of Ione stood still at that strange mirth. Glaucus muttered a
rapid counterspell to the omen--a