putting her to the trial, by water or by fire, we should be
torturing--it might be to the death--the ancestress of her we sought
to redeem.

My uncle thought awhile, and then said, that in this last matter I
was right--at any rate, it should not be tried, with his consent,
till all other modes of remedy had failed; and he assented to my
proposal that I should go myself and see Bridget, and tell her all.

In accordance with this, I went down once more to the wayside inn
near Coldholme. It was late at night when I arrived there; and,
while I supped, I inquired of the landlord more particulars as to
Bridget's ways. Solitary and savage had been her life for many
years. Wild and despotic were her words and manner to those few
people who came across her path. The country-folk did her imperious
bidding, because they feared to disobey. If they pleased her, they
prospered; if, on the contrary, they neglected or traversed her
behests, misfortune, small or great, fell on them and theirs. It was
not detestation so much as an indefinable terror that she excited.

In the morning I went to see her. She was standing on the green
outside her cottage, and received me with the sullen grandeur of a
throneless queen. I read in her face that she recognized me, and
that I was not unwelcome; but she stood silent till I had opened my
errand.

"I have news of your daughter," said I, resolved to speak straight to
all that I knew she felt of love, and not to spare her. "She is
dead!"