This is my prophecy, and; a black one you'll soon find it." That Nelly had been always a woman of some good nature, with gleams of feeling and humanity appearing in a character otherwise apathetic, hard, and dark, M'Gowan well knew; but that she was capable of bearding him in one of his worst and most ferocious moods, was a circumstance which amazed and absolutely overcame him.

Whether it was the novelty or the moral elevation of the position she so unexpectedly assumed, or some lurking conviction within himself which echoed back the truth of her language, it is difficult to say.

Be that, however, as it might, he absolutely quailed before her; and instead of giving way to headlong violence or outrage, he sat down, and merely looked on her in silence and amazement.
Sarah thought he was unnecessarily tame on the occasion, and that her prophecy ought not to have been listened to in silence.

The utter absence of all fear, however, on the part of the elder female, joined to the extraordinary union of determination and indifference with which she spoke, had something morally impressive in it; and Sarah, who felt, besides, that there seemed a kind of mystery in the words of the denunciation, resolved to let the matter rest between them, at least for the present.
A silence of some time now ensued, during which she looked from the one to the other with an aspect of uncertainty.

At length, she burst into a hearty laugh-- "Ha, ha, ha!--well," said she, "it's a good joke at any rate to see my father bate with his own weapons.