"Hear till me only to-night! If one of t' witch people wud
come, them we heard oft' home, and gif hur all hur wants, what
then? Say, Hugh!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean money.

Her whisper shrilled through his brain.

"If one oft' witch dwarfs wud come from t' lane moors to-night,
and gif hur money, to go out,--OUT, I say,--out, lad, where t'
sun shines, and t' heath grows, and t' ladies walk in silken
gownds, and God stays all t' time,--where t'man lives that
talked to us to-night, Hugh knows,--Hugh could walk there like
a king!"

He thought the woman mad, tried to check her, but she went on,
fierce in her eager haste.

"If I were t' witch dwarf, if I had t' money, wud hur thank me?
Wud hur take me out o' this place wid hur and Janey? I wud not
come into the gran' house hur wud build, to vex hur wid t'
hunch,--only at night, when t' shadows were dark, stand far off
to see hur."

Mad? Yes! Are many of us mad in this way?

"Poor Deb! poor Deb!" he said, soothingly.