loudest in spreading the praises of these beneficent compounds, now, as if
for the utter demolition of the poor youth's credit, suffered under a
recurrence of the worst symptoms, and, in more than one case, perished
miserably: insomuch (for the days of witchcraft were still within the
memory of living men and women) it was the general opinion that Satan had
been personally concerned in this affliction, and that the Brazen Serpent,
so long honored among them, was really the type of his subtle malevolence
and perfect iniquity. It was rumored even that all preparations that came
from the shop were harmful: that teeth decayed that had been made pearly
white by the use of the young chemist's dentifrice; that cheeks were
freckled that had been changed to damask roses by his cosmetics; that hair
turned gray or fell off that had become black, glossy, and luxuriant from
the application of his mixtures; that breath which his drugs had sweetened
had now a sulphurous smell. Moreover, all the money heretofore amassed by
the sale of them had been exhausted by Edward Dolliver in his lavish
expenditure for the processes of his study; and nothing was left for
Pansie, except a few valueless and unsalable bottles of medicine, and one
or two others, perhaps more recondite than their inventor had seen fit to
offer to the public.

Little Pansie's mother lived but a short time after the shock of the
terrible catastrophe; and, as we began our story with saying, she was left
with no better guardianship or support than might be found in the efforts
of a long superannuated man.

Nothing short of the simplicity, integrity, and piety of Grandsir
Dolliver's character, known and acknowledged as far back as the oldest
inhabitants remembered anything, and inevitably discoverable by the
dullest and most prejudiced observers, in all its natural manifestations,
could have protected him in still creeping about the streets. So far as he