Tom Brown's Body Read Online Free

where the book reposed. She had no adventures on the way. Spey was clearly marked on the Ordnance map, and she arrived there without difficulty under the guidance of her chauffeur George.
    Enquiry by George at the village public house set them upon the road which led to the cottage, and at about three in the afternoon of a bright October day Mrs Bradley was knocking on the door of Lecky Harries.
    'But she's a witch,' they had told George at the inn. 'Better not take any risks. If thy lass won't have thee, try another. Old Mother Harries might give thee the wrong brew!'
    'After which, madam,' said George, describing the incident, 'there was bucolic mirth of a Miltonian type. I purchased a round of drinks for my informants, and, as it was almost closing time, escaped a return of hospitality.'
    Mrs Bradley was not more superstitious than her levelheaded factotum, yet she felt a keen stirring of interest when the door of the cottage was opened by a pale-faced but dark-complexioned man with greasy black hair and yellow-ringed black eyes who asked her, none too civilly, what she wanted.
    'Your paramour, incubus,' said Mrs Bradley brightly. There was a senile, shrill chuckle from the opposite side of the room, and a little, bent, bright-eyed old woman got up from the chimney corner and, grasping hold of a long stick, sagged forward over the carpetless floor to greet the visitor.
    The dark gentleman slammed the door behind him, and was gone.
    'Come you in, my pretty,' said the hag unnecessarily to Mrs Bradley, 'for I can tell you're a woman by the pattern your posy of fingers makes on my heart.'
    'You can't see me?' Mrs Bradley enquired; for the bright eyes were as brilliant as her own.
    'I can see nought, nor haven't, this twenty years,' pronounced the sibyl, 'but I can tell by your voice how warm you are. Burning for love, eh, my lassie? Come to old Mother Lecky for a wee small drink, have you? Sit down, and tell your grandma your troubles.'
    'I want facts about Mary Toadflax,' said Mrs Bradley distinctly. She could have sworn that the bright eyes searched her face. Then Mother Harries nodded.
    'You shall have them,' she said. 'But first you must stay here a night and a day, and give me the knowledge that you have in you – the knowledge of men and of things. You vibrationing thing, then! You are warm! You have long life before you – a great expectation of days. But I know now that you are old as the fools count age. Speak: will you stay, and exchange with me secret for secret? For secrets you have in your heart.'
    'I will stay until dusk and return after dark,' said Mrs Bradley, imitating the witch's oracular delivery.
    'Wait till I wet the pot, then,' said Mother Harries, 'and we will drink tay together.'
    'You've been on the stage,' said Mrs Bradley suddenly. Mother Harries, who was hobbling towards the door which led to the kitchen of her cottage, turned her head, and again gave the impression that she was looking Mrs Bradley straight in the face.
    'Until my sight was reft from me,' she said. They drank very sweet black tea with a good dollop of gin in it, and then Mrs Bradley mentioned again the purpose of her errand. She not only wanted details of the life and exploits of Mary Toadflax; she wanted to see her magic book.
    Lecky Harries did not deny that there was such a book, and she did not, in so many words, admit that she had it in her possession.
    'Next time you come we will speak of it again,' she said; and Mrs Bradley could get no more out of her. There were several built-in cupboards in the two downstair rooms of the cottage, and others, Mrs Bradley surmised, in the bedrooms. One of them must house the precious book. She had a pretty good idea of its market value, and she was prepared to put on top of this a contribution which would satisfy the sentimental value that the book would have for her. She did not desire a bargain. She was aware that bargains were usually fraudulent either to the purchaser or the