“Dear bairn, if they did come I saw nae them. If they came, they were ower late, for the spirits were there afore them; an’ I hae seen sic a sight! Dear, dear bairn, dinna gar me gang owre it again—I hae seen a sight that’s enough to turn the heart o’ flesh to an iceshogle, an’ to freeze up the very springs o’ life!—Dinna gar me gang ower it again, an’ rake up the ashes o’ the honoured dead—But what need I say sae? The dead are up already! Lord in Heaven be my shield and safeguard!” “Nanny, you affright me; but, be assured, your terrors have originated in some mistake—your sight has deceived you, and all shall yet be explained to your satisfaction.” “Say nae sae, dear bairn; my sight hasna deceived me, yet I have been deceived. The world has deceived me—hell has deceived me—and heaven has winked at the deed. Alak, an’ wae’s me, that it should sae hae been predestined afore the world began! The day was, an’ no sae lang sin’ syne, when I could hae prayed wi’ confidence, an’ sung wi’ joy; but now my mind is overturned, and I hae nouther stay on earth, nor hope in heaven! The veil of the Temple may be rent below, and the ark of the testimony thrown open above, but _their_ forms will not be seen within the one, nor their names found written in the other! We have been counted as sheep for the slaughter; we have been killed all the day long; yet hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious, and is his mercy clean gone for ever!” “Peace, peace, for Heaven’s sake!—You are verging on blasphemy, and know not what you say.”