The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

A Strange Revenge. 719
reply, pointin' a shakin' finger at the anvil, whaur there
was naebudy veesible, ' see, she's sittin' there glowerin' at
me vvi' they avvfu' e'en o' hers ! Hist ! She says she's no
dead, but that her body's cold and stiff, and that I can
But I'll no dae it, though she saved my
make it warm !
life— I'll no dae it ; I swore by the deevil I wadna. Gang
awa' an' dee,' and risin' up she sprang, clutchin' like, at the
anvil, an' gie'd her head sich a dure that she fell doon. It
was a terrible sicht ! It made me shivery, an' maist o' the
neebours slippit awa' hame.
tae the smith—an' 'certies,
' Gang for the doctor,' says I
we a' went wi' him. Weel,
when we came back, wha did we see but the Witch rinnin'
like the diel, to whom she belongs, sir (as nane o' us can
deny), tearin' at her hair, and cryin' that hell fire or no, she
wud save Flora's— I beg yer pardon—IMiss Flora's life !
The doctor got haud o' her as she was fleeing past, but she
struggled like tvva men, and shoutin' that she was awa' tae
get the med'cine, she went bang intae the plantation and
disappeared. I declare, what wi' ae thing an' anither— I'll
no mention parteeklars, sir—my nerves the day are no
worth a preen's tap."
" I ain afraid Elspeth must be sent to the mad house,
and I hope that will be done before she injures either
herself or others."
" Excuse me, sir, but d'ye mean tae say that everybody
wha sees a ghaist, daylicht or dark, are lunatics ?" asked
John drawing himself up ; " f>jr, if that's the case, my
father and his father afore him, wha baith saw the Speerit
o' Murdered Man's Knowe, were daft ! Daft!" he added
with a toss of his head, " it wad be tellin' a hankie folk in
this parish if they were halfsae wise as my forbears."
" Perhaps, John— perhaps. This is not a time to pursue
the subject ; but when anybody pretends to have seen a
ghost just express the wish that his brain may in future be
truer to itself"
" 1 ken brawly that I'm speakin' ower muckle, sir, an
death in the hoose— its no a day e'en tae speak o' death
—