'What did they know?' asked he.
'Know! Oh, why, that the old woman was an awful wicked witch, and she'd
taken the good of their milk.'
'Oh, indeed!' said the student; and then, 'But what became of the widow
and the seven daughters?'
'Well, of course she had to sell her cows and get others, and then it
was all right. But that old man and his wife were that selfish they'd
not have cared if she'd starved. And I tell you, it's one of the things
witches can do, to take the good out of food, if they've an eye to it;
they can take every bit of nouriture out of it that's in it. There were
two young men that went from here to the States--that's Boston, ye know.
Well, pretty soon one, that was named M'Pherson, came back, looking so
white-like and ill that nothing would do him any good. He drooped and he
died. Well, years after, the other, whose name was McVey, came back. He
was of the same wicked stock as the old folks I've been telling ye of.
Well, one day, he was in low spirits like, and he chanced to be talking
to my father, and says he, "It's one of the sins I'll have to 'count for
at the Judgment that I took the good out of M'Pherson's food till he
died. I sat opposite to him at the table when we were at Boston
together, and I took the good out of his food, and it's the blackest sin
I done," said he.
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