as if she had to make a struggle to recover her sense
of the present homely accustomed life, before she could find words to
answer:

'Evil nature! Daughters, Satan is abroad,--is close to us. I have this
very hour seen him afflict two innocent children, as of old he troubled
those who were possessed by him in Judea. Hester and Abigail Tappau
have been contorted and convulsed by him and his servants into such
shapes as I am afeard to think on; and when their father, godly Mr.
Tappau, began to exhort and to pray, their howlings were like the wild
beasts of the field. Satan is of a truth let loose amongst us. The
girls kept calling upon him as if he were even then present among us.
Abigail screeched out that he stood at my very back in the guise of a
black man; and truly, as I turned round at her words, I saw a creature
like a shadow vanishing, and turned all of a cold sweat. Who knows
where he is now? Faith, lay straws across on the door-sill.'

'But if he be already entered in,' asked Prudence, 'may not that make
it difficult for him to depart?'

Her mother, taking no notice of her question, went on rocking herself,
and praying, till again she broke out into narration:

'Reverend Mr. Tappau says, that only last night he heard a sound as of
a heavy body dragged all through the house by some strong power; once
it was thrown against his bedroom door, and would, doubtless, have
broken it in, if he had not prayed fervently and aloud at that very
time; and a shriek went up at his prayer that made his hair stand on
end; and this morning all the crockery in the house was found broken
and piled up in the middle of the kitchen floor; and Pastor Tappau
says, that as soon as he began to ask a blessing on the morning's meal,
Abigail and Hester cried out, as if some one was pinching them. Lord,
have mercy upon us all! Satan is of a truth let loose.'

'They sound like the old stories I used to hear in Barford,' said Lois,
breathless with affright.

Faith seemed less alarmed; but then her dislike to Pastor Tappau was so
great, that she could hardly sympathise with any misfortunes that
befell him or his family.

Towards evening Mr. Nolan came in. In general, so high did party spirit
run, Grace Hickson only tolerated his visits, finding herself often
engaged at such hours, and being too much abstracted in thought to show
him the ready hospitality which was one of her most prominent virtues.
But to-day, both as bringing the latest