"Thy child's life shall be long--beyond the ordinary term of woman--but it shall be a life of woe and ill." "Oh! stay him--stay him; or I shall die!" cried Bess.
But the wizard could not speak.

A greater power than his own apparently overmastered him.
"Children shall she have," continued the abbot, "and children's children, but they shall be a race doomed and accursed--a brood of adders, that the world shall flee from and crush.

A thing accursed, and shunned by her fellows, shall thy daughter be--evil reputed and evil doing.

No hand to help her--no lip to bless her--life a burden; and death--long, long in coming--finding her in a dismal dungeon.

Now, depart from me, and trouble me no more." Bess made a motion as if she would go, and then turning, partly round, dropped heavily on the ground.