"Listen, and I will tell thee all.

There was an old fierce woman, with hair as white as driven snow, among them, who, when she heard the name of Trevlyn, launched at me a glance of hatred that I never can forget; and I knew well by her looks and her words that, had she had her will, I should have suffered the same fate that her mother had done from the hands of my grandfather.

I knew not then that it was her mother who had been burnt by him as a witch; but I saw the evil purposed me, and knew she was my foe.

But a stately woman--the old gipsy's daughter, as I later learned--interposed on my behalf, and her all obeyed as queen, even her mother bowing down before her.

She protected me, and bid me sit at table with them, saw me served with the best, and at night showed me herself to a ruinous bed chamber where, however, a weary man might comfortably lodge.