"Nothing. She dare say nothing. But I be a witch, be I, madam? Have a care, then, for thyself. If one of two people is to die, why should it be I? But we shall see, we shall see: there be time enough yet." End of Volume II. Volume 3, Chapter I. HOW THE WITCH SAID THERE SHOULD BE NO WEDDING. "That Mother Goodhugh must have a care of herself," said Sir Thomas a day or two later; and Anne let fall her work upon her knee to listen to her father's words. "And pray why?" said Dame Beckley, who was shaking up some strange infusion of herbs in a bottle. "I hear strange things of her," said Sir Thomas; "things that, as a justice, I shall be bound to stay." "And why?" said the dame, as she took out the stopper and had a long sniff at the contents of the bottle. "Because they savour of witchcraft and the use of spells. His Majesty has opened a stem commission against such dealings, and as one whom he has delighted to honour I feel bound to show my zeal." "Fiddle-de-dee!" cried Dame Beckley; "show thy zeal by growing wiser, Thomas. Smell that!" As the dame held the bottle beneath her lord's nose, Anne glided out of the room, and made her way towards Mother Goodhugh's cot, where she found the old woman ready to meet her with a suspicious look, and, with a feeling of gratified malice, told her of the words her father had let drop. "But you could stay him, dearie," said the old woman, with a look of terror which she could not conceal. "Yes. But tell me--what have you done?" "Wait, dearie, wait," whispered the old woman. "The wedding will never be." "But it takes place in four days!" cried Anne. "Sir Mark actually dared to come over and tell my father." "And he told thee, dearie?" "Nay, he told my mother, and she told me." "Four days," said the old woman trembling; "four days. The time be short, but it will do. I tell thee the wedding will never be." "Can I believe thee this time, Mother Goodhugh?" cried the girl excitedly. "Give me thy word as a lady, that I shall not be ill-treated by thy father and his people, and I swear to you the wedding shall never be." "There is my hand," said Anne; and, as the old woman held it, there was a strange look on the girl's face as she bent down and Mother Goodhugh whispered to her for a few minutes, after which she hurried from the cottage. "And they call me witch, and think me ready to do any evil!" she muttered as she gazed after the girl; "while that young, fairly-formed creature has a heart full of devilry such as never entered mine. But it must be done--it must be done." She sat brooding over her cold hearth till evening: and then, as soon as it was dark, put on her cloak, took her stick, and walked cautiously to the Pool-house, where she succeeded in getting to the kitchen window unperceived, reaching in and touching Janet on the shoulder with her stick as she sat nodding near it in her chair.