"I do not sell, Kester Pateman—talk not
of selling. Describe to me your child's
symptoms, and be at peace."

The wise mail had a voice of such preternatural
depth that it really seemed as if his
words were also of superior sagacity; Kester
listened to him with the prol'onudest faith,
and then gave a description of Katie's state
—her pale cheeks, her stillness, and her crying.
'Bram shook his head.

"I don't say she'll die, Kester, and I can't
say she'll live; but there's one chance, if
you'll try it,"

"I'll do anything, 'Bram—why I'd die for
that bairn! You don't know how I love my
Katie. What's the chance, 'Bram?"

"The stars will not be hurried, Kester
Pateman; they have not spoken yet. Come
and see."

The sage led the way into a second
room, in the middle of which was a table
whereon lay a sheet of paper with sundry
figures and scrawls thereon.

"Look here," and 'Bram began to trace a
line with his forefinger. "This is the girl's
line of life. Mark it well, Kester Pateman."

Kester, dizzy with anxiety, fixed his eyes
on it intently.

''Here is a man of battles; it passes him.
This part shows them that seek her in matrimony;
them that she must not marry, Kester—
you mark me?"

Kester nodded his head.

"She must not marry any one of these
with the cross agen 'em. Not this with the
spade, nor the figure with the sack, nor him
with the tailor's goose, nor yet this man
leading of a horse, nor yet that one with the
peaked cap and ferule—the stars have spoken
agen 'em all."

Kester wiped his forehead, and said he
saw that clearly enough.

"Mark me agen, Kester," pursued the
sage, sinking his voice until it sounded as if
it came up out of the toes of his boots;
"mark well, for I can't show you it a second
time. This is the sign of a powerful man
who has come over the sea—he's got a sickle
and a gun. The sickle means that he shall
reap abundance o' corn, and live on the fat o'
the land all his days, and the gun is a token
that he's a brave man; and his face being to
Katie's line o' life is a sign that he loves her,
and that she has a thought for him. Are
you hearkening, Kester?"

"Yes, 'Bram, I hear. Oh! but you are a
knowledgeable man. These," following the
first marks with his fingers, "are surely Rob
M'Lean, and Jasper Linfoot, and here's Phil
Creasy, and Peter Askew, and Tom Carter,
and Johnny Martin—"

"Them's their names! None o' 'em must
your Katie marry, the stars has otherwise
bespoke for 'em. Do you know who this last
is, Kester?"

'"It maun be Alick, the wild Irish reaper;
him that's at the Squire's now."

"Him it is, and no other! The interpretation
thereof is just!" said 'Bram, emphatically,
and he rolled up the sheet of paper.

Kester Pateman was greatly in awe of
'Bram, but he endeavoured to protest against
the conclusion.

"'Bram, couldn't you bring forward
another?" said he, hesitatingly.

"Can I alter the stars, Kester?" replied
the sage in his sternest tone; "I do not
make, or mend, or mar, I only read for the
blind what is written. You must give your
bairn Katie to Alick, or she'll die."

"O! I will—surely I will, 'Bram!" in
great haste cried poor Kester. "He's honest if
he's poor, and Katie'll not have a penny. Tell
me, Kester, will I sell my corn well this time!"

"You shall," responded 'Bram; "you shall
sell it as others do."

"Have you that charm agen the Evil Eye
that one told me of, 'Bram?" Kester humbly
inquired.

"Yes, Kester; but it is not to be bought
with silver nor gold. Send me half, a bushel
of your best aits, and you shall have it. I've
parted with a many, but I've only one on
hand now, and it's a good one."

"Let me have it, 'Bram. You'll get the
aits to-morn."

'Bram went to a drawer in the dresser, and,
after rummaging for some minutes amongst
its contents, he brought forth a hare's foot
with a string attached to it. He smoothed
it carefully with his hand, muttering a formula
of words to himself as he did so.

"You must put this in your pillow, Kester,
and every morning, the first thing when you
get up, open the window, and fix on some
particular tree or bush, and look at it steady
while you spell your own name backwards
three times. You must look every day fasting
at the same thing, and in time it will wither
away and die. And so you'll be cured, and
in smiting the tree the rest o' your things'll
be safe.

Kester took the hare's foot as tenderly aa
if it had been a sacred relic, and put it in his
bosom.

"Thank you, 'Bram—and you're sure Katie'll
be well if I let her wed Alick?"

"Yes, man! You'll find the lass's face
shining when you get home, for she's feeling
that your heart's changed towards her
already. The stars has been whispering of it
to her."

Quite cheerfully Kester trotted the grey
mare home, and, as if immediately to prove
the sage's words true, Katie came to meet
him at the gate as rosy as a peony. Alick, at
that minute, was escaping by the cow-house
door into the pasture, after telling Katie of
his visit to 'Bram Rex, and preparing her for
its probable results.

VII.

IN the centre of the great meadow directly
opposite Kester Pateman's chamber window