What house would shelter me? In cold, in hunger, in
drought, in storm, and in tempest, I am alone and unfriended, hated,
feared, an' avoided; starving in the winter's cold, and burning in the
summer's heat. All this is my fate here; and--oh! oh! oh!--have mercy,
tormentor--have mercy! I will not lift my thoughts there--I'll keep the
paction--but spare me now!"
She turned round as she spoke, seeming to follow an invisible object,
or, perhaps, attempting to get a more complete view of the mysterious
being which exercised such a terrible and painful influence over her.
Mrs. Sullivan, also, kept her eye fixed upon the lump, and actually
believed that she saw it move. Fear of incurring the displeasure of what
it contained, and a superstitious reluctance harshly to thrust a person
from her door who had eaten of her food, prevented her from desiring the
woman to depart.
"In the name of Goodness," she replied, "I will have nothing to do wid
your gift. Providence, blessed be his name, has done well for me an'
mine, an' it mightn't be right to go beyant what it has pleased him to
give me."
"A rational sentiment!--I mean there's good sense in what you say,"
answered the stranger: "but you need not be afraid," and she accompanied
the expression by holding up the bottle and kneeling: "now," she added,
"listen to me, and judge for yourself, if what I say, when I swear it,
can be a lie.
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