Not a word was spoken till I added
that the wizard's grave was close beside us, and that the woodwax had
sprouted originally from his unhallowed bones. The ladies started;
perhaps their cheeks might have grown pale had not the crimson west
been blushing on them; but after a moment they began to laugh, while
the breeze took a livelier motion, as if responsive to their mirth.
I kept an awful solemnity of visage, being, indeed, a little piqued
that a narrative which had good authority in our ancient
superstitions, and would have brought even a church deacon to
Gallows Hill, in old witch times, should now be considered too
grotesque and extravagant for timid maids to tremble at. Though it
was past supper time, I detained them a while longer on the hill, and
made a trial whether truth were more powerful than fiction.
We looked again towards the town, no longer arrayed in that icy
splendor of earth, tree, and edifice, beneath the glow of a wintry
midnight, which shining afar through the gloom of a century had made
it appear the very home of visions in visionary streets.
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