"Sick!" she replied, licking her parched lips, "awirck,
awirek! look! look!" and she pointed with a shudder that almost
convulsed her whole frame, to a lump that rose on her shoulders; this,
be it what it might, was covered with a red cloak, closely pinned and
tied with great caution about her body--"'tis here! I have it!"
"Blessed mother!" exclaimed Mrs. Sullivan, tottering over to her chair,
as finished a picture of horror as the eye could witness, "this day's
Friday: the saints stand betwixt me an' all harm! Oh, holy Mary
protect me! _Nhanim an airh_," in the name of the Father, etc., and she
forthwith proceeded to bless herself, which she did thirteen times in
honor of the blessed virgin and the twelve apostles.
"Ay, it's as you see!" replied the stranger, bitterly. "It is
here--husht, now--husht, I say--I will say the thing to her, mayn't I?
Ay, indeed, Mary Sullivan, 'tis with me always--always. Well, well, no,
I won't. I won't--easy. Oh, blessed saints, easy, and I won't."
In the meantime Mrs. Sullivan had uncorked a bottle of holy water, and
plentifully bedewed herself with it, as a preservative against this
mysterious woman and her dreadful secret.
"Blessed mother above!" she ejaculated, "the _Lianhan Shee_" And as
she spoke, with the holy water in the palm of her hand, she advanced
cautiously, and with great terror, to throw it upon the stranger and the
unearthly thing she bore.
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