A Warwickshire Lad

"Nor did it end there, for his children falling ill soon after--a pretty dears they were, I mind them, a-hanging of their heads to see a stranger, an' a finger in mouth--they falling sick, the woman of Brentford come again, an' this time all afraid to say her nay. An' layin' off her cloak, she took the youngest from the mother's breast, dandling an' chucking it like an honest woman, whereupon it fell a-sudden in a swoon.

"An' Goodwife Gosling seizing it, an' mindful of her being a witch-woman, calling on the name of God, straightway there fell out of the child's blanket a great toad which exploded in the fire like any gunpowder, an' the room that full o' smoke an' brimstone as none could--Save us! What's that!" cried Gammer.

[Illustration: "'Save us! What's that!' cried Gammer"]

What, indeed! That cry--this rus