"No, it's not," cried the dying man, with a wild energy he did not seem to have strength for. "When you wor away, Molly, he was here, standing beside the bed." The old hag laughed with a horrid sardonic laugh. "Don't--don't, for the love of--ah--I can't say--I can't say it," cried he; and the voice died away in the effort. "What did he say to ye when he kem?" said she, in a scoffing tone. "He never spoke a word, but he pressed back the cloth that was on his head, and I saw the deep cut in it, down to the very face!" "Well, I am sure it had time to heal before this time," said the woman, with a tone of mockery that at last became palpable to the dying man. "Where's Dan, Molly,--did he never come back since?" "Sorra bit; he said he'd go out of the house, and never come back to it. You frightened the boy with the terrible things you say in your ravings." "Oh, murther--murther! My own flesh and blood desart me!" "Then why won't you be raisonable,--why won't you hould your peace about what happened long agone?" "Because I can't," said he, with a peevish eagerness. "Because I'm going where it's all known a'ready." "Faix, and I would n't be remindin' them, anyway!" said the hag, whose sarcastic impiety added fresh tortures to the dying sinner. "I wanted to tell Father Ned all; I wanted to have masses for him that's gone,--the man that suffered instead of me! Oh, dear!--Oh, dear!--and nobody will come to me." "If ye cry that loud, I 'll leave you too," said the hag. "They know already 'tis the spotted fever ye have, and the Tapageers would burn the house under ye, if I was to go." "Don't go, Molly,--don't leave me," he cried, with heart-rending anguish. "Bring the blessed candle nearer; I don't see it well." "You'll see less of it soon; 'tis nigh out," said she, snuffing the wick with her fingers. The dying man now stretched out his fleshless fingers towards the light, and I could see by his lips that he was praying. "They 're calling me now," cried he, "Molly,"--and his voice of a sudden grew strong and full,--"don't ye hear them? There it is again,--'Maurice Cafferty, Maurice Cafferty, yer wantin''." "Lie down and be at peace," said she, rudely pushing him back on the bed. "The blessed candle, where's the blessed candle?" shrieked he. "'T is out," said the hag; and as she spoke, the wick fell into the saucer, and all was dark. A wild and fearful cry broke from the sick man and re-echoed through the silent house; and ere it died away I had crept stealthily back to my place beside my companions. "'Did ye hear anything, or was I dreamin'?" said Joe to me; "I thought I heard the most dreadful scream,--like a man drownin'." "It was a dream, perhaps," said I, shuddering at the thought of what I had just witnessed, while I listened with terrible anxiety for auy sound overhead; but none came; and so passed the long hours till day-dawn.