come up to the forge with me, an' I promise you that in a couple of hours' time you'll be back here, safe an' sound, an' not as much pain or ache in that tooth as there is in the hearthstone there."

"Aye do, Mr. Boylan," chimed in Kitty. "It's a terrible thing to think of what'd happen if it keeps at you for five days, an' sure it's wearin' you down already."

[Pg 18]

[Pg 18]

"An' is it no harm to work the charm on a Sunday, Ned?" asked Larry, who was evidently giving way.

"Not the least bit o' harm in the world," said Ned. "Sunday or Monday, night, noon or mornin', it's all the same."

"Troth, then," said Larry, as he rose, "I think I'll go. Get me that coat, Kitty. If it sticks to Nannie until to-morrow she'll have to go, too."

"The bed is the best place for her at present," said Ned M'Grane, as he passed out after Larry, "but don't let her stay too long in it, Kitty."

And Kitty's nod, in answer to the wink which accompanied this remark, was sufficient to prove that she fully understood.

III.

When they reached the forge it was just nightfall, but Ned lighted a lamp or lantern which hung on the wall, bolted the door, closed the window shutters, and then proceeded to light the fire. Larry watched him with the greatest interest, while he himself moaned and groaned and stamped about with the fierce pain of the big, shaking tooth.

It was one of the front teeth and very prominent. A tooth on each side of it had long since departed, and so it stood out in bold relief, grim and determined-looking. The pain was so constant and so annoying now that Larry would have suffered any torture to get rid of it.

"How do you work the charm, Ned?" he asked at[Pg 19] length, when there was no likelihood of the mystic rite being put into practice.

[Pg 19]

"Oh that's a secret that can't be given away to any man or mortal," said Ned, as he divested himself of his coat and proceeded, slowly and carefully, to roll up his shirt sleeves. "'Twould be a big risk for me to let anyone know that; I might be on the look-out for some terrible punishment. In fact, I hardly know myself how it works. It takes place by some power beyond my knowledge entirely, 

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