This was very different from the reception she and her cousin Rachel had met.
They had but been bidden to show their hands, and had then seen some cabalistic characters formed by the wise woman, from which she had told them all they wished to know.

But there had been nothing half so mysterious as this, and the girl felt certain that the wise woman regarded Cuthbert and his questions with far greater interest than any she had bestowed upon the fortunes or the ailments of Rachel.
Presently there arose, as if in the far, far distance, a sound of voices faint and confused.

Cherry clung to Cuthbert's arm, and looked about her with a pale, scared face, half expecting to see the room filled with disembodied spirits; but his glance never shifted from the down-bent face of the wise woman, and he half suspected that the sounds proceeded in some way from her, albeit they seemed to float about in the air round them, and to approach and die away at will.
Suddenly the old woman raised her head and spoke.
"Thy mission to me this day is to ask news of the lost treasure of Trevlyn." Cherry started, and so did Cuthbert.

There could be no doubting the old woman's power now.

If she could see so much in her bowl, could she not likewise see where that lost treasure lay buried?
"Thou speakest sooth, mother," he said boldly.