his men-at-arms, stripped me of all I possessed, and brought me to
this dog-hole, to the care of this old hag. Oh, Eustace, I have
heard her mutter prayers backwards; and last night--oh! last night!
at the dead hour, there came in a procession--of that I would take
my oath--seven black cats, each holding a torch with a blue flame,
and danced around me, till one laid his paw upon my breast, and
grew and grew, with its flaming eyes fixed on me, till it was as
big as an ox, and the weight was intolerable, the while her spells
were over me, and I could not open my lips to say so much as an Ave
Mary. At last, the cold dew broke out on my brow, and I should have
been dead in another instant, when I contrived to make the sign of
the Cross, whereat they all whirled wildly round, and I fell--oh!
I fell miles and miles downwards, till at last I found myself, at
morning's light, with the hateful old witch casting water in my
face. Oh, Eustace, take me away!"

Such were the times, that Eustace Lynwood, with all his cool sense
and mental cultivation, believed implicitly poor Leonard's delirious
fancy--black cats and all; and the glances he cast at the poor old
Spaniard were scarcely less full of terror and abhorrence, as he
promised Leonard, whom he now regarded only in the light of his old
comrade, that he should, without loss of time, be conveyed to his
own tent.

"But go not--leave me not," implored Leonard, clinging fast to him,
almost like a child to its nurse, with a hand which was now cold
as marble.

"No; I will remain," said Eustace; "and you, Ingram, hasten to bring
four of the men with the litter in which Master d'Aubricour came from