"William remarked to his master that there was a sound of falling
water, and said there were sure to be brooks running in the valley. Mr.
Lawley was, however, too sad to talk to his servant; he could only say,
'I don't doubt it,' and then they both walked on in silence.
"They came to the bottom of the valley even before the carriage got
there. They found that the brook came out upon the road in that place,
and that the road was carried over it by a little stone bridge.
"Mr. Lawley stopped upon the bridge; he leaned on the low wall, and
looked upon the dark mouth of the glen. William stood a little behind
him.
"William was young; his hearing and all his senses were very quick. As
he stood there, he thought he heard a voice; but the rattling of the
coach-wheels over the stony road prevented his hearing it distinctly.
He heard the cry again; but the coach was coming nearer, and making it
still more difficult for him to catch the sound.
"His master was surprised to see him vault over the low parapet of the
bridge the next moment, and run up the narrow path which led up the
glen.
"It was the voice of Edwy, and the answering echo, which William had
heard. He had got at just a sufficient distance from the sound of the
coach-wheels at the moment when the echo had returned poor little
Edwy's wildest shriek.
"The sound was fearful, broken, and not natural; but William was not
easily put out; he looked back to his master, and his look was such
that Mr. Lawley immediately left the bridge to follow him, though
hardly knowing why.
"They both went on up the glen, the man being many yards before the
master. Another cry and another answering echo again reached the ear of
William, proceeding as from before him. The young man again looked at
his master and ran on. The last cry had been heard by Mr. Lawley, who
immediately began to step with increasing quickness after his servant,
though, as the valley turned and turned among the rocks, he soon lost
sight of him.
"Mr. Lawley was by this time come into the very place where the echo
had most astonished Edwy, because each reverberation which it had made
seemed to sound from opposite sides; and here he heard the cry again,
and heard it distinctly. It was the voice of a child first, crying,
'No! no! no! Papa! mamma! Oh, come! Oh, come!'--and then a fearful
shriek or laugh of some wild woman's voice.
"Mr. Lawley rushed on, winding swiftly between the rocks, whilst
various voices, in various tones, which were all repeated in strange
confusion by the echoes, rang in his ears; but amid all these sounds he
thought only of that one plaintive cry, 'Papa! mamma! Oh, come! Oh,
come!' Suddenly he came out to where he saw his servant again, and with
him an old woman, who looked like a witch. She had the hand of a little
ragged child, to which she held firmly, though the baby, for such
almost he was, struggled hard to get free, crying, 'Papa! mamma! Oh,
come! Oh, come!'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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