had been drawn to the door of the study by the unusual tones of his
voice,--a kind of piercing sweetness in it,--always averred that she
saw the gigantic spider swooping round his head in great crafty
circles, and clutching, as it were, at his brain with its great claws.
But it was the old woman's absurd idea that this hideous insect was the
Devil, in that ugly guise,--a superstition which deserves absolutely no
countenance. Nevertheless, though this paroxysm of devotional feeling
and insight returned no more to the grim Doctor, it was ever after a
memorable occasion to the two children. It touched that religious
chord, in both their hearts, which there was no mother to touch; but
now it vibrated long, and never ceased to vibrate so long as they
remained together,--nor, perhaps, after they were parted from each
other and from the grim Doctor. And even then, in those after years,
the strange music that had been awakened was continued, as it were the
echo from harps on high. Now, at all events, they made little prayers
for themselves, and said them at bedtime, generally in secret,
sometimes in unison; and they read in an old dusty Bible which lay
among the grim Doctor's books; and from little heathens, they became
Christian children. Doctor Grimshawe was perhaps conscious of this
result of his involuntary preachment, but he never directly noticed it,
and did nothing either to efface or deepen the impression.

It was singular, however, that, in both the children's minds, this one
gush of irresistible religious sentiment, breaking out of the grim
Doctor's inner depths, like a sort of holy lava from a volcano that
usually emitted quite other matter, (such as hot, melted wrath and
hate,) quite threw out of sight, then and always afterwards, his darker
characteristics. They remembered him, with faith and love, as a
religious man, and forgot--what perhaps had made no impression on their
innocent hearts--all the traits that other people might have called