About midnight--if ye protect them, ye powers above--they will be with me.

And you, child, I know your soul to its inmost depths.

Before you would betray the last of Abus's kindred--" "My hand and tongue should wither!" Ledscha passionately interrupted, and then, with zealous feminine solicitude, she asked whether the three ducks would suffice to satisfy the hunger of these strong men.
The old woman smiled and pointed to a pile of fresh leaves heaped one above another, beneath which lay several fine shad.

They were not to be cooked until the expected visitors arrived, and she had plenty of bread besides.
In the presence of these proofs of maternal solicitude the morose, wrinkled countenance of the old sorceress wore a kind, almost tender expression, and the light of joyous anticipation beamed upon her young guest from her red-rimmed eyes.
"I am to see them once more!" cried Tabus in an agitated tone.

"The last--and all three, all! If they--But no; they will not set to work so near Pelusium.