Effigy

“ Sometimes in case of sickness the malady is transferred to an effigy as a preliminary to passing it on to a human being. Thus among the Baganda the medicine-man would sometimes make a model of his patient in clay; then a relative of the sick man would rub the image over the sufferer’s body and either bury it in the road \??\ it in the grass by the wayside. The first person who stepped over the image or passed by it would catch the disease. Sometimes the effigy was made out of a plantain-flower tied up so as to look like a person ”

“ Cross-legged Effigies and Collars of SS.
—As some of your correspondents are sending to "N. & Q." accounts of sepulchral effigies bearing SS. collars, I should be obliged to them if they would mention when such effigies are cross-legged. Does any effigy in this attitude exist bearing a date as late as 1350?
W. H. K.
The Crooked Billet.
—Can any of your readers inform me whether there be any legend connected with the "Crooked Billet," which is frequently used in this neighbourhood as a sign to a village inn? ”

“ And all the voices sang with her
"Thus we work, thus we love ever while we live."
Then the procession moved out again, and Effie clung still to the little man's seal-skin cap, as she sat on her cushion of sea-weed, upon the hump on his back; and he marched along, using his flat hands like oars, while the gruff old constable with his sword, and the dolphins and the fishes, great and small, moved beside the pair, and they all went swiftly up from the light to the darker green, the voices growing fainter to Effie, and their forms more indistinct. ”

“ Effie, whom I now consulted, after reading the letter of Cousin Egbert, proved to be in favour of my going to him to make one last appeal to his higher nature.
“If only he’d stick out there in the brush where he belongs, I’d let him stay,” she explained. “But he won’t stick; he gets tired after awhile and drops in perhaps on the very night when we’re entertaining some of the best people at dinner—and of course we’re obliged to have him, though he’s dropped whatever manners I’ve taught him and picked up his old rough talk, and he eats until you wonder how he can. It’s awful! ”

“ Forgetful of music, of the cow, of the violin, of everything but the mad passion of the moment, Effie clung tightly to the dying hare, purring to herself with a savage and horrible satisfaction as she did him slowly to death, and his large liquid eyes, turned to her at first with a piteous look as if to ask for mercy, grew fixed and glassy and dull as he yielded up his innocent life and lay dead beneath his cruel pupil. ”

“ Effie with an air of being about to strangle the woman; she affectionately wrung the hands of Cousin Egbert, and had grasped my own tightly before I could evade her, not having looked for that sort of thing.
"That's Cousin Egbert's man!" called Mrs. Effie. But even then the powerful creature would not release me until her daughter had called sharply, "Maw! Don't you hear? He's a man!" ”

“ A few moments witnessed Effie’s complete recovery, and in a few words she related her vanquishing of the Briton. When Rudolph Runnion touched her hand in the gloomy cave she must have been in a deep swoon, that admirably counterfeited death, for she knew nothing of his visit, and when she came to her senses, the little apartment was filled with pure air, and a moment afterward she was startled by hearing the major’s defiant words. Presently she knew that the red-skins had been vanquished, and that her lover was beyond the cave. ”

“ As the drips came nearer, they seemed to change more and more into the sound of light footsteps, pattering on the wet, muddy path. A moment more it was Effie who stood beside him.
For some wild freak, she must have evaded the vigilance of Mrs. Turner, the nurse, and slipped out of the door when Charles left, to follow the path of her favourite in his dark journey.
“Effie, child! who let you come out to-night? Run home, run home.” ”

“ When Effie came in, she stood up restlessly and looked at the supper table.
"Yes," she said, "it is just as he likes it—the fragrant coffee, the raspberry tart and the jug of cream, the new-laid eggs, the brown loaf and the fresh butter. A simple sort of meal—yes, quite simple and very wholesome. Very homelike, that's the word. Effie, there never was such a homelike sort of man as your father. Give him home and you fill his heart. This supper table is just what he will like best. He does not care for new-fangled things. He is old-fashioned—he is the best of men, Effie, the best of men." ”

“ I have done wrong—I have acted ignobly, and not as Robert Barton would have done by me, or to the meanest in Scotland! Yet I did not tell him to love my daughter Effie—and Home and Hailes shall both be earls, if swords and lances can make them so. Yet—yet—tush! I have behaved like an old wolf. But there was no remedy—I had betrayed too much to him; so cold steel must seal his lips for ever. And yet, alack! those lips have often been upon poor Effie's cheek. No—no—let me not think of it!——But who is this? A captain of the king's arquebussiers—and Sybilla too;—pest! here is another lover! ”

“ He was so startled and amazed at this new tone in Effie's voice, that words failed him altogether for a minute. It seemed to him as if a castle of cards had tumbled all over his head, and as if he stood in the middle of the ruins. If Effie were going to turn nasty, according to Phil's idea, there was nothing further to be looked for in life. Walter, however, who was older, had more discernment than his little brother.
"Effie has a headache," he said; "can't you see that she has a headache? We'll be very good indeed, Effie, if Agnes will put us to bed." ”

“ I meant no wrong to Effie, but, looking on her as a child, I forgot the higher claim I had given her as a wife, and, walking blindly on my selfish way, I crushed the little flower I should have cherished in my breast. "Effie, my old friend Agnes Vaughan is coming here to-day; so make yourself fair, that you may do honor to my choice; for she desires to see you, and I wish my Scotch harebell to look lovely to this English rose," I said, half playfully, half earnestly, as we stood together looking out across the flowery lawn, one summer day.
"Do you like me to be pretty, Sir?" ”

“ It was given to him in physical sensations, a weight and pain about his heart that did not lie. In a flash he saw himself back in his old life of dependence and frustration. There would be no Effie sitting with him in the house, no Effie running up and down the stairs. ”

“ She walked quickly, pretending to herself that there was no hurry, and not the least cause for alarm, and cried out into the fog in a strange, unnatural voice that none would have recognised as hers, “Effie! Effie!’
As the lantern shot a bar of light into the fog, Effie herself appeared, walking at a leisurely pace towards the house.
“The gal has been among the spirits again,” said Mrs. Turner, in a low voice.
Then Cissy scolded her soundly.
“Naughty Effie! Where have you been? You’ll be the death of us all, some day. Mercy! How cold the child’s hand is! Bring her to the fire. Oh dear!” ”

“ Because the woman wore an old bonnet, she couldn't help her—only think of that! how mean!'
'She—O Harry! now I know what mother meant when she talked to me so much about having charity for people, and told me that [Pg 27] we could not always judge the heart by the actions. I thought as badly of her as you at first, but I'm sure now she is not unfeeling.'
'Well, if she has any feeling, I should like to see her shew it, that's all. I tell you, Effie, if anybody ever made a god of self, it is that little girl we saw to-night. ”

“ After this, Effie and he quarrelled fiercely. They meant a very great deal to each other, but they were both under a strange, unnatural tension. He stayed out of the house as much as possible. He got a special corner for himself at the Red Lion at Cossethay, and became a usual figure by the fire, a fresh, fair young fellow with heavy limbs and head held back, mostly silent, though alert and attentive, very hearty in his greeting of everybody he knew, shy of strangers. He teased all the women, who liked him extremely, and he was very attentive to the talk of the men, very respectful. ”

“ You know that I love you, and that is enough. Each succeeding moment is precious to me now. Come, Effie, fly with me to a gorgeous home, far beyond these woods, where man proves a famished wolf to his fellow-man.”
“What! unite my young life to a murderer?” cried Effie. “Never! Rudolph Runnion, and, besides, I never loved you.”
An oath parted the officer’s lips.
“I did not come here to be baffled,” he cried. “You shall become mine: you shall, I say!”
“Back!” cried the young girl, and the pistol—his gift—flashed from her bosom.
The Briton came to a sudden halt. ”

“ Effie has no money. She goes to see her father, who will take her in, but not the child. It’s an accepted convention that the unmarried mother must be parted from her child. So Effie and the baby turn up here. I say that they shall stay. You say that in that case you’ll go, which you do, having previously dismissed Dot and Dash. ”

“ He shut his eyes, but he couldn’t get rid of the vision of Effie. Effie sitting in his mother’s place. Effie sleeping beside him in the big bed.
“She shall live. She’s going to live.” The words meant nothing. Only the dragging weight at his heart had meaning. And it didn’t lie.
He thought: If that’s how I feel about it, I’d better keep my mind off her.
Then he was aware that he was tired, dead beat, too tired to think. And presently, sitting upright in the chair, he fell asleep.
He was waked by Nurse Eden’s voice calling to him from the bed: “Mr. Hollyer! She’s going!” ”

“ Every variety of the human species seemed crowded on those narrow pavements.
Harry and Effie were only a few rods from Mr T.'s door, when Mr Maurice overtook them, on his way to some other part of the city. He smiled, as he always did, on his children, then putting a few pence into Effie's hand, whispered something about 'temptation money,' and passed on. ”

“ Effie. I hid when I heard you coming.
Mrs. W. But how came you here at all? What are you doing in a room belonging to two large girls, when those two girls are abed and asleep?
Effie. Well, they didn’t want me and I just came.
Mrs. W. And you have been eating Bee’s goodies! Oh, what a pig! Did Bee give any of these to you?
Effie. No’m, but—
Mrs. W. What do we call it when one person takes another’s goods without their knowledge or permission?
Effie. Truly, I wasn’t stealing, Mrs. Waterman. The idea! I wouldn’t! Besides they did know. ”

“ Effie's constitution was naturally weak, and she had been subject from her childhood to a slight cough; but her friends gave little heed to it, as the buoyancy of her spirits and her unchanged demeanour seemed to preclude the idea of any seated complaint. But the destroyer came, and disease had made fearful havoc before we awoke to a sense of her danger. ”

“ Effie had often got things in her eye before, and her father had always seemed to think it was natural—rather tiresome and naughty perhaps, but still natural. He had never before thought it curious.
Effie stood holding her handkerchief to her eye, and said: "I don't believe it's out." People always say this when they have had something in their eyes. ”

“ Effie in a peculiar tone, as if she were trying over a song.
"It may indeed be the best way out of an impossible situation." continued Belknap-Jackson musingly. "Otherwise we face a social upheaval that might leave us demoralized for years—say nothing of making us a laughing-stock with the rabble. In fact, I see nothing else to be done."
"Cousin Egbert would be sure to spoil it all again," objected Mrs. Effie, glaring at him. ”

“ I came back after a week's absence to my home again—a changed man. I had lived out my first rush of passion for Effie, had come to a contemplation of my position. I had gauged Effie's place in the scheme of things, and parted from her for a time. She was back in her place at Raggett Street after a temporary indisposition. I did not feel in any way penitent or ashamed, I know, as I opened the little cast-iron gate that kept Marion's front garden and Pampas Grass from the wandering dog. ”

“ After the discovery of his treachery, Effie relapsed into silence, though now and then she shot him a look of scorn which caused him to avert his eyes.
At length, while the first beams of day were penetrating the wood, they reached a spot where the trail entered a ravine, through which it ran a short distance, and then emerged again in the forest, striking boldly toward the north. The major entered the ravine with no small degree of apprehension, for he was now upon especially dangerous ground. ”

“ These were Sybilla and Euphemia Drummond. For a minute the lovers loitered to exchange a word and glance.
"Thou art welcome, thrice welcome to my father's house, Lady Effie," said Barton; "and one day I hope to see its porch bedecked with white garlands in thine honour, when coming home as its lawful mistress; but that must be when the tide of fortune turns, for sorely hath it now set in against the loyal and true; so we, dear Effie, must thole it with the others. I see how the land lies still with the old lord, thy father; but we'll weather the reefs yet, please God, Effie." ”

“ For her mother's sake she must see him. Whatever happened, her mother must never know of this calamity. Effie got up, washed her hands and face, smoothed out her hair, and went downstairs. George was already up, he was standing in the little parlor. He turned round when he heard his sister's footsteps, and looked anxiously at her.
"What a brute I am!" he said, when he saw the expression on her face; "but I swear before God, Effie, if you will help me, I'll turn over a new leaf; I'll never do a wrong thing again as long as I live—I swear it." ”