draw her toward the door, but she resisted, and looking
hurriedly up into his face, said:

"Ah; I see you, too, remember! It was the night Arsene Bolduc went out
never to return. The devil is surely abroad this night, and our Pierre
is not yet home."

"Talk not of the evil one while the moon shines full in your face,
wife, for it is an evil omen."

Quickly he drew down her hand, which was still pointing upward, then
put his hand over her eyes to shut out the sight of the moon, made the
sign of the cross, drew her into the house and shut the door.

Once more they seated themselves near the stove and began their
anxious wait for the erring one. For nearly half an hour they sat
without speaking, but at short intervals glanced at the clock, whose
loud ticking broke the stillness of the night with painful
distinctness. Every relentless tick jarred on the nerves of the aged
watchers. Suddenly they started to their feet with blanched faces,
looked at each other, and apprehensively bent their heads in a
listening attitude. Again there came floating on the still air the
mournful sound that had startled them--the weird wail of a dog! A
marvellous change came over the mother as she listened; the look of
fear vanished and was succeeded by one of intense determination. The
change in her was so great that one would surely have thought that she
had partaken of the fabled elixir of life; her bent shoulders seemed
to grow straight once more, while her steps, as she ran to the door
and wrenched it open, were as firm and elastic as those of a young
woman. For a moment she stood in the open door and looked: One glance
was sufficient--coming toward the house across the field was a large
hound, which was baying the moon. Firmly she picked up a knife from
the kitchen table, thrust another into the hand of Baptiste, and drew
him to the door.

"See, Baptiste!" she said, standing erect and pointing the knife at
the dog, "I am right; the curse has fallen, as I feared it would. The
devil has turned our Pierre into a hound, and the beast is coming this
way. Even a scratch, if it draws blood, will be sufficient to release
him from the curse and restore him to us again. The dog must not
escape us; if it does, our son is lost to us forever. Pray the holy
Mother to help us now, husband."

She made a weird picture as she stood in the open door, with her thin
white hair streaming about her face, grasping the knife, which
glittered ominously in th