AND HER CAT. 63

taining various reptiles, preserved in spirits; and numerous
chemical instruments ; the very uses of which were unknown
to the sorceress, but which she had placed there to impose
upon the weak people by whom she was consulted. She at
first exhibited some little embarrassment at the sight of
Dame Mitchell; but after shutting a glass-door which led
into another room, she returned to receive her new client,
and said to her with a solemn voice,

** What is it you wish for ?”

‘¢ To inquire into the past, the present, and the future.”

“T can satisfy your wishes,” replied Mrs. Crustychin,
“but you seek after high game, and that will cost you three
crowns.”

“Here they are; and I willingly give them.”

Mrs. Crustychin pocketed the money, not without a
twinge or two of regret that she had not asked a good deal
more, and thus began:

** Tell me the month, and the day of your birth?”

“The 24th of May, 1698.”

Tell me the first letters of your Christian name, sur-
name, and native place.”

“A, R, M,.H, L, 8.”

Dame Mitchell was called Amelia Rachel, and had been
twelve years the widow of Francis Mitchell, a butter-taster
in London; and was born at Houghton-le-Spring.

«Which is your favourite flower ?”

* The marigold.”

After these customary questions, the fortune-teller
examined some coftee-grounds in a saucer, and said, “Phal-
darus, genius of occult science, informs me that you are in
quest of a being that you dearly love.”

Dame Mitchell started in her seat with surprise. Mrs.
Crustychin continued: “ This being is not a man; it is a
quadruped, and either a dog or a cat;—and a spirit reveals
to me that it is a cat.”

Dame Mitchell grew more and more satisfied; and the